Conversations With Other Women

Some of the so-called experimental films tend to get lost in their own experimentation, choosing the ultimate gimmick over story and emotional connection. Split-screen is a tricky aspect of experimental movie-making, as one false move can run the whole project under. In the case of 2005’s Conversations With Other Women, however, the film is on-point from the first frame and never lets up.

Director Hans Canosa’s independent film cost only $450,000 to make and makes great use of split-screen technology. The director himself also became the editor, putting the motion picture together using Apple’s Final Cut Pro. This, coupled with the performances, create a very realistic feel for the movie and help in engrossing the audience with the material.

Conversations With Other Women stars Aaron Eckhart as a man and Helena Bonham Carter as a woman. We aren’t told their names, but they come together at a wedding reception. They become flirtatious and eventually things get heated to the point of a sexual encounter. Through revelations, the two wind up discovering mutual memories and a past that is far more intimate than originally realized.

Canosa utilizes the split-screen to illustrate a number of things. One of the first aspects the feature brings to mind is that of separation. Here, Canosa illustrates how separate the two main characters are. There is always a divide between them, signified here by the split-screen, and there is something keeping them from occupying one singular space even in love-making.

Split-screen is also used to blend perceptions. When a character imagines something or considers something mentally, the split-screen can come into play to demonstrate such a thing. For instance, when the man tells the woman that his girlfriend is a dancer, we are able to see her instantaneous reaction using Canosa’s directorial technique. It’s a unique way to illustrate just what exactly is going on inside a character’s head.

Beyond the use of split-screen, Conversations With Other Women provides audiences with two stellar and ultimately natural performances. Eckhart is at his very best here, breathing life into an impulsive man-child of a character and drumming up genuine sympathy from audience members for relationships gone sour. Helena Bonham Carter is every bit his match, offering dryness and vulnerability in all the right places.

The movie works best when it causes the audience to ask questions. Who are these people? Do they really recognize each other from a previous period of time? Are they pretending to forget? Canosa’s direction allows audiences to ask those questions without getting swept up in the satisfaction of the audience, providing a valuable and intelligent film experience that doesn’t rely on cheap parlour tricks or dumb special effects.

Conversations With Other Women also sparkles with tremendously witty and charming dialogue. The Gabrielle Zevin writing crackles and feels very adult, reaching beyond what’s contemporary or stylish to offer conversations and experiences that real people have.

The film proves that it doesn’t take a million dollar budget or a pile of unreal situations to create something special. Instead, Conversations With Other Women engages us on the most basic of levels and keeps us locked in its spell because of the characters and the situation. That Canosa uses the split-screen to such great effect is a bonus well worth examining closer.

Trailer: