This short film, my first fiction piece, was created in 2023 during my final year of high school. The theme was based on a quote by Rimbaud: “On n’est pas sérieux quand on a 17 ans” (“One is not serious when they are 17”). I took a somewhat counterintuitive approach to this quote, creating a film that addresses weighty themes such as identity and depression.
The protagonist struggles to feel happiness and embarks on a relentless quest for it through various experiences and encounters. The film’s primary inspiration came from Albert Camus’s novel A Happy Death.
Aesthetically, it was one of my first playful experiments. I reflected on the role of color in cinema and subverted its traditional use. The film transitions from black and white to color as the character sinks deeper into depression, inverting the usual symbolism of color as hope or vitality.
