Salome Latsabidze's short film "The Pool" (2021) tells about a theme well known to cinema – alienation, the tense relationship between mother and daughter. Working on this topic is interesting for many, that's why almost every director's filmography contains similar work. Therefore, creating something different and memorable is not so easy.
The director tried to present her film in an original way using metaphors and symbols. A young woman with her six-year-old child, Nini arrives in a resort town to meet her mother she hasn’t seen for a long. Their meeting in the flooded room of the old hotel is tense. As if the only thing that connects them is swimming in the pool.
"The Pool" has a total of four characters. The only one whose name is heard in it is Nini. We do not learn others’ names, which indicates that the story of a specific person is not told in this case but, in general, anyone can imagine himself in a similar situation.
Everything seems to be in place in the film: relevance of the topic, technical side, experienced actors, but still there is a feeling of incompleteness. All this is caused by the fact that the director does not have the courage to take bold steps. For fear of making any unnecessary movement, she doesn't finish what she has to say. Not every director can spectacularly show the emotions, feelings of the characters and make the audience sympathize. The tension is created almost out of thin air and transferred to the film. No explosions, just wordless conversations between characters, but exciting nonetheless.
This is a refined film. The author deals with an important problem of human relations. Parents influence the happiness and normal psychological state of their children, not only during childhood, but throughout life. An example of this is the relationship between Nini and her mother. They don't understand each other. A little girl wants more warmth and attention from her mother, and she uses different ways to get it. The mother is indifferent to her daughter, unable to express the feelings that she really feels. At a glance, it seems that she doesn't love her daughter, but this is not so. When she goes for a walk and doesn't find her daughter, she looks for her frightened and shocked.
The reason for hiding feelings should be found in childhood. It is possible that she herself did not learn to express love from her own mother, that's why her daughter is also deprived of all this. After all, children inherit similar things from their parents, so there is a great chance that Nini will turn out to be the same parent as her mother or grandmother. This is what the film makes the audience think about and shows three different generations, who do not understand each other, but need to love each other like oxygen. Unfortunately, the way out of all this is not shown, what they should do and how not to resemble the heroes of the film. The audience sees strong opposing feelings in the complicated relationship between mother and daughter, but does not understand why there is so much tension between them and will not understand because there are not even scenes from their own past. In order to create a complete picture, it was necessary to show the previous history. It was necessary to know why the relationship between mother and daughter became strained, who has more to do with it, and they have tried to meet all these years, why can't they accept each other for who they really are?
Each character represents different negative qualities: dissatisfaction, disappointment, pain, despair. Everyone has their own character, their own motives, they have something to say but they don't know what to say. As a result, it is impossible to understand the main characters’ motives, which does not allow us to empathize with them, although they managed to take the first important step, so it should be easier to correct mistakes. It is important for mother and child to find happiness in each other but for this it is necessary to overcome excessive pride. They must learn to forgive. True, it is difficult, but necessary.
The film is difficult to understand because it is loaded with symbols. After each shot you have to think why this or that was shown, what they wanted to say with it. Everything has its own meaning: the ruined hotel, the flooded rooms, the pool and, most importantly, the water, which has been used many times for different purposes, which the author has especially focused on.
It is true that we read in the annotation that swimming in the pool is the only thing that connects a young woman with her mother, although it is difficult to fully agree with this. The mere fact that the pool is shown at the beginning and end of the film, where both women swim, but at different times, does not support this statement. For this, more reinforcement was needed to defend the idea to the end.
Water has an interesting symbolic meaning. The author found eight different purposes for it. It connects all three generations. For Nini, water is a means of communication and entertainment with her mother. In order to get her mother's attention, she drops a glass full of water from the table, but to no avail. She won't get any emotion out of it. In the old hotel, water also appears as a means of entertainment for her, although already in the form of a fountain. For a young woman, water is simultaneously associated with wound opening and healing. At first, she watches from the window fire being extinguished. In this case, water is a relief for her. In the second case, when she comes to see her mother, she finds the room flooded. Here the water did not allow her to communicate and became another obstacle to spend more time with her mother. In the third case, water is a means of peace and relaxation for a woman. The pool is a place where she feels comfortable and the water is not at all dangerous for her, she is not at all worried about a flooded room. Although the metaphorical components of the film are quite extensive, they are only means of the story of ordinary human relationships.
In such films, where there are not a large number of characters, the scenes require variety. The director must use everything that comes into the shot, all the details, in order to "immerse" you in the story, make you believe what is happening, make you feel for the characters. Their emotions should also be real. So that you don't get confused, this is a movie, and these people are just actors.
As for the technical part, it is worth noting the work of the cameraman. It is visually quite sophisticated and pleasant to grasp. The color palette conveys the nature of feelings. The film is in shades of gray, like the inner state of the characters. The first part is full of blue and red colors, which emphasizes that two opposing feelings are fighting in the girl going to meet her mother. Calmer colors are used in the hotel part, which indicates the soon expected meeting of mother and daughter. In addition, there is no music, it is replaced by the sound of water, thus the author establishes the idea that water is an important factor in connecting the main characters.
A useless episode is also shown. Why should the audience watch the heroine drive a car for two minutes, when it has nothing to do with the story and offers nothing important? All this would be justified if the audience learned something important about the character. Any such episode is already easily noticeable and leaves the impression of being out of context. If all this is used as a metaphor, it is difficult to discuss it in this regard as well. The strange behavior of the girl working at the hotel is also incomprehensible. Why the director brought her in so strangely, why she is confused, what function is assigned to her, is also unclear.
The finale does not offer hope for a "happy ending." Heroes do not understand each other, a short meeting does not give the opportunity to change anything. Conflict resolution is a long and arduous task that selfish and indifferent people are not capable of. Although the first step was taken, it did not lead to any development, neither side showed much interest in warming the relationship.
The dramatic line of the film is very weak. The film should interest the audience, be fascinated by the story. Unfortunately, this is not the case with "The Pool." There is action on the screen, but why? for what? What point should be made, it doesn't seem to answer any of the questions asked. But how many unanswered questions were left on which the director's position would be interesting. This work manages to be calm, chaotic and incomprehensible at the same time.
Teona Vekua
