You Are Alone (2005)

A dark drama which takes a looks at how far its characters will go to relieve loneliness, even if only for an hour.

Director:

Gorman Bechard

Writers:

Gorman Bechard, Jessica Bohl (additional dialogue)

Stars:

Jessica Bohl, Richard Brundage, Keith Herron

2 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jessica Bohl	...	Daphne / Britney
Richard Brundage	...	Buddy
Keith Herron	...	Priest
Eric Deskin	...	Mr. Wood
Bruce Koken	...	Father
Amy Brienes	...	Sarah
James Ellsworth	...	Harlan
Gail Herendeen	...	Mother
Tate Ellington	...	Mike
Chester Jones III	...	Tyler
John Watson	...	Hotel Duncan clerk
Michael Gilio	...	Sleeping Hotel Duncan guest
Frank Loftus	...	Bachelor party patron
Christopher Jon Gombos	...	Bachelor Party Patron (as Chris Gombos)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Albert Burton	...	Elevator Operator

Storyline

"We're gonna play a game of Snap! Pick a bracelet. Pull it hard!" But it's a game of desperate consequences in YOU ARE ALONE, a dark exploration of just how far a man and a woman will go to escape loneliness, if only for an hour. Daphne, a Yale-bound high school senior whose depression has blurred her sense of reality, works as an escort, advertising her services online. Her next door neighbor catches her as the "entertainment" at his nephew's bachelor party. With her hidden life precariously hanging in the balance, Daphne agrees to spend one hour with her neighbor. Initially confrontational, Daphne and her neighbor begin to shed their bitter layers of personal disappointment and general cynicism by talking about sex. It's eye-opening for her neighbor: BBBJs, dining at the Y, salad tossing, and, of course, Snap! But behind this teenager's jaded fantasies hides the very essence of heartbreak, acceptance, need, and desire...ironically paralleled by a broken man's desperate attempts to ...

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Plot Keywords:

loneliness | snap | teenager | escort | salad tossing | 

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Taglines:

How far would she go to protect her darkest secret?

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace site What Were We Thinking Films [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 June 2005 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Connecticut, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

What Were We Thinking Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All of the "escort" tales in the movie are true, based on research director Gorman Bechard did for his novel "Ninth Square".

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Quotes

Buddy: What sort of mood do you have to be in for that?
Daphne: Depressed.
Buddy: And what, being groped by a dozen guys at a bachelor party cheers you up?
Daphne: They're harmless... it's just...
Buddy: What?
Daphne: I know what it's like to be the popular girl for an hour.
Buddy: Daphne...
Daphne: This...
Buddy: Today?
Daphne: All of it, every time... makes me... less invested with life at school, or even at home. It's... mine. Just mine. And because of it I don't have to play the game. I don't have to pretend to be friends with people that I hate. I don't need to ...

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Soundtracks

"Where to Strip"
by Phosphorscent

User Reviews

Dark, candid & beautiful with powerful performances and an ending that will blow your mind!

You Are Alone is a beautiful, almost delicate film, smart directed, crisply written, with two complex and riveting performances, and a twist of an ending that no one will see coming, but will make you want to see the film a second time to go back and catch up on all the clues you misread.

The story, about a highschool girl who drowns her depression and awkwardness by working a few hours a week as a $500 an hour "schoolgirl" escort, and the depressed next-door neighbor who discovers her secret and hires her for an afternoon call in a downtown New Haven hotel, features breathtaking performances from both Jessica Bohl, as the girl, and Richard Brundage, as her neighbor.

Bohl as Daphne gives a breakthrough performance on par with Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary. She so captures a teenager's angst of growing into her own skin, and when she talks about always being in control, you start to realize she's not in control at all, but in danger of going over the deep end, which I guess in a way she does.

Brundage as Buddy is depressed, angry, heartbroken, a shell of a man. But it isn't until the film's startling conclusion that you grasp a full comprehension of his pain.

After a very brief opening segment, which will hook most independent film lovers, and have the religious right running towards the exits, we are brought into the hotel room. At first you're not sure about these people, or the film-making style. Shaky, annoying...like the characters. Until you realize their back story, told in short flashbacks. They're confrontational at first for a reason, and so is the camera. But as they open up, as the story settles down, likewise, so does the camera. And, I don't know, 20 minutes in, give or take, you find yourself unable to take your eyes away from the screen.

Having just seen the world premiere screening at the Brooklyn Film Fest -- where the director asked the audience if anyone expected the ending and not one person answered yes – I almost wish the film were already on video so I could watch it again. Because thinking back now on some of the conversations in the film, particularly a very candid dialog regarding fantasy and climax, I really thought things were going in a very different direction. But I realize now so much of their conversation meant something completely different than what I imagined. I need to see it again!!! But as dark and sexual as much of the talk is, blunt to say the least, I found myself laughing more than I might have expected at some of its candor, which definitely falls into the "things we think, but lack the nerve to say out loud" category. It's very blunt, especially when you realize so much of it has a completely different meaning. Some of it will make you uncomfortable, especially if you're watching You Are Alone with a partner. You'll definitely have something to talk about – perhaps argue about – afterwards. Perhaps it should come with a warning: You SHOULD be alone when watching! The music is amazing. I would have come home, and purchased the soundtrack at my favorite online music store if I could have. The film looks as good as anything shot on film. After the screening director Gorman Bechard was asked what sort of process he used to get the digital footage to look so good. His answer: none. They couldn't afford it.

I have to give Bechard credit. I am a big fan of his two shorts, The Pretty Girl and Objects in the Mirror, but even they could not have prepared me for the complexities and surprises of this film.

To everyone involved: bravo.