The Whispers

Ali Moazen’s short film The Whispers is an intimate and quiet affair. The cast is made up of just Ehsan Gharedaghi and Nava Nemati, playing a couple with an ambiguous relationship as they converse in bed. More context surrounding their relationship is revealed as the short unfolds, and the couple begin to reveal certain vulnerabilities and fears with each other.

It’s the morning after the night before, and for the duration of the short, the two leads share a conversation in bed that skates around relationships, pain, and philosophy. Immediately, the audience are invited into a very personal space, as the camera lingers above and between the two actors underneath their bedsheets. A thin sunbeam gives the impression that The Whispers takes place after a night of passion, and in the afterglow of the night before, the two can be open with each other for perhaps the first time. The conversation sways idly between various topics; they talk about school, past loves, and scars – both emotional and physical. There’s a sense that they can be honest with each other in this space, sharing anxieties that they’re burdened by in everyday life and confessing to darker thoughts that have troubled them. A cloud of unease underpins the conversation as they meander around past traumas, and when the film ends, it feels as though something unspoken is left hanging in the air. The Whispers treads into heavy territory, and while it's interesting to see how these characters confront what could have been an awkward morning, audiences may find it difficult to navigate through the dialogue to find exactly what Moazen’s point is.

Unfortunately, the English language subtitles were unclear in parts, which made the conversation difficult to follow. A key reveal towards the end of the film was vague in the English subtitles, and audiences may miss the meaning of the film’s climax. Fortunately, the subtitles can easily be improved, and I would like to see the film again with a more accurate translation into English.

The Whispers should be commended for its filmmaking and the performances of the cast. The minimalism of shooting two actors in bed and putting the camera between them creates a strong sense of intimacy, and Moazen clearly trusts the audience to learn the nature of the main characters’ relationship to each other without spoonfeeding all the juicy details immediately. It feels rewarding to learn how casual or serious the nature of their relationship is, which gives the first half of the short a palpable sense of intrigue. However, while the verisimilitude of the dialogue creates a great sense of realism, the film may lose audiences with an apparent lack of focus in the script and a fairly lethargic pace. Once the details of the night before are revealed, the engine begins to run on empty, and there’s not much in the way of conflict to keep the audience invested. The brilliance of the film’s script may shine through with a better English translation, but until that is available, the narrative and dramatic potential of The Whispers unfortunately falls a little short.