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Deloping

average rating is 4 out of 5

Critic:

William Hemingway

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Posted on:

May 26, 2024

Film Reviews
Deloping
Directed by:
Jon Olav Stokke
Written by:
Tom Mair
Starring:
Lola-Rose Maxwell, Eleanor Morton

Deloping is not, as I first thought, a word which describes the act of running away with your spouse to get divorced, but is instead a term which comes from the French for ‘throwing away’ and refers to the practice of deliberately wasting your first shot in a pistol duel in order to try and stop the conflict before anyone gets hurt.

 

In the short film from director Jon Olav Stokke and writer Tom Mair, Mary (Maxwell) and Emma (Morton) are two young ladies in the late 18th Century who have a score to settle with one another over some perceived slight. They have decided on a pistol duel to settle their differences because “it’s what the men do”, and so in a field in England on a hot summer’s day the two women face-off against one another, ready to let God decide the victor as he guides their bullets to their destinations.

 

However, as they take their stances it becomes clear that Emma has a little bit of difficulty with her duelling ability, as well as her counting. After a first unintentional deloping, Emma and Mary are forced to talk out their differences a little as they try to get themselves reset for another attempt at the duel. This gives them a little bit of time to share their relationship with the audience as well as allowing the narrative to develop. The witty banter between the two of them flits back and forth like a (real) tennis match while the jaunty, western style music from Samuel Karl Bohn continues to lift the atmosphere of the film towards farcical dimensions.

 

Obviously, a lot of the film rests on the shoulders of the two leads who have to carry the story as the only two characters on screen. Thankfully, Lola-Rose Maxwell as Mary and Eleanor Morton as Emma are both perfectly cast, with each of them showing off some serious comedy chops in the delivery of their lines. The relationship between the two women is friendly and fun and as the duel becomes halted and postponed, time after time, we along with the women begin to wonder if “what the men do” really is the best way for them to be resolving their feud.

 

Jon Olav Stokke keeps things breezy as the dialogue snaps along in the short seven-minute runtime. The shots are cut together at a brisk pace, focusing in on the characters as the lines are delivered, but also stepping back from time to time to place the duellists in their outdoor setting. There are plenty of sight gags to enjoy along with the witty dialogue and it’s always a horrifying pleasure any time one of the women points the gun at her own face and looks straight down the barrel.

 

There’s a lot of fun, laughs and dry humour packed into Deloping’s short timeframe, with the slight feminist element even adding to the farcical nature of the film, as everybody becomes aware of just how ridiculous a notion it is to be doing something simply because “it’s what the men do”. The beauty of the women’s friendship shines through and as we get towards the end we are sure they will find a way of resolving things which makes much more sense than trying to kill one another from ten paces.

 

Deloping is a rare short which is tightly packaged and barely misses a beat in achieving its goal. It’s funny, insightful and, if you’ll excuse the pun, a total blast. This is seven minutes that you won’t regret spending in the company of some quite brilliant madness.

About the Film Critic
William Hemingway
William Hemingway
Short Film
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