Not Everything Needs to Be Explained

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MOVIE REVIEW
Where We Stay
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Genre: Drama, Short
Year Released: 2024, 2025
Runtime: 23m
Director(s): Florence Bouvy
Writer(s): Florence Bouvy
Cast: Emmanuel Ohene Boafo, Michael Muller
Where to Watch: Shown at the 2025 Cleveland International Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: Grief is rarely methodical, and stories that attempt to box it into clean endings often miss the emotional truth that chaos and connection can coexist. WHERE WE STAY refuses that oversimplification and instead lets its quiet heartbreak unfold in fragmented, tender gestures. Written and directed by Florence Bouvy, the short captures that vulnerable space between holding on and letting go—not by leaning into melodrama but by studying the silences that speak the loudest. It’s a film that asks more than it answers, and for the most part, that’s a strength.

On the surface, the premise sounds simple: two lifelong friends, Carry and Daniel, spend time together during Carry’s final days. However, the script never spells out their history or gives viewers a roadmap for their unspoken feelings. That ambiguity becomes the driving force of the film.

Michael Muller and Emmanuel Ohene Boafo anchor the entire project with performances that feel restrained yet emotionally loaded. Instead of exposition, they give us flickers of discomfort, hesitations, and glances that feel like they carry years of shared history. Muller’s portrayal of Carry—frail but not broken—is particularly resonant. He captures the fatigue of someone who knows their time is almost up but hasn’t figured out what they should say before the end. Boafo plays Daniel like a man carrying a secret and a duty, unsure which will crumble first.

For all its strength in mood and tone, the storytelling trips over itself in a few areas. The core relationship between Cary and Daniel is emotionally rich, but narratively, it’s murky. For those unfamiliar with the synopsis, it’s easy to misread their connection as something more defined—or at least more explicit than what we’re shown. That’s not a flaw in the concept but in the execution. More clarity in how these characters see each other might have given the emotional payoff more punch.

That ambiguity becomes especially tricky because the film is so sparse. In a feature-length project, you can afford to let character backstories trickle out through side scenes or dialogue beats. In a 20-something-minute short, every moment counts, and a few of those moments feel underutilized here. The emotional core is present but buried a little too deep under poetic minimalism. That’s not to say the film needs to spell everything out—but a few more signposts might have gone a long way.

What stands out about WHERE WE STAY is its refusal to offer a polished goodbye. That’s partly because Bouvy’s own experience inspired the story with her father's death. Rather than dressing grief up in cinematic closure, Bouvy embraces the messy reality of goodbyes: the regret, the confusion, the sudden need to say something that’s waited too long. It’s a choice that gives the film its emotional texture, even when the structure falters.

Bouvy’s background in philosophy and her training at the Netherlands Film Academy bleed into her work here. The pacing feels meditative, as if each scene asks the viewer to sit in discomfort instead of rushing to a resolution. It’s refreshing to see a short film not preoccupied with delivering a twist or driving toward a dramatic climax. WHERE WE STAY is more concerned with what it means to be present in someone’s final days—and how that presence can carry more weight than words.

What works best here is emotional control. The performances are well-calibrated, the direction is focused, and the visuals consistently serve the story. But it also plays its cards a little too close to the chest. While thematically relevant, the ambiguity risks alienating viewers who aren’t fully dialed into the film’s cues. It’s a thoughtful experience but not always a clear one.

That said, the film lingers. Even if you don’t walk away with a crystal-clear understanding of what happened, you’re left with an emotional anchor. It raises questions about how we say goodbye and what we leave unsaid when we think there’s still time to speak. And in that regard, it succeeds—quietly but firmly. It’s the kind of project that could benefit from a follow-up or expansion, but as it stands, it’s a meditative entry point into the darker corners of emotional honesty. WHERE WE STAY is not for everyone, but it doesn’t try to be. It’s a short that lives in the spaces between, in the stares, in the moments where nothing is said but everything is felt.

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[photo courtesy of PRPL]

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