Are We Lost Forever

Out of the blue, in bed, Hampus (Jonathan Andersson) tells his lover and partner Adrian (Björn Elgerd) that it’s over. It’s a stark scene, plain colours, almost surgical in its depiction, though as it plays out the feelings between the two are natural and we can start empathise with both.

It’s a been a long time coming, and the pain is all over their faces, especially Adrian who while taken by surprise you feel felt it coming. And there’s no drawing out as Hampus moves out almost immediately with the help of his friends. As is sometimes the case with these splits, there’s niggles over possessions and seemingly absurdly Hampus insists to taking half the bed. Metaphor perhaps?

From there the film tracks Hampus and Adrian as they deal with the split. For Adrian its abusing a friendship for rebound sex while Hampus does make to move on, after all he initiated the breakup.

But it is not that simple; Hampus still has feelings for Adrian, at least he misses him. Adrian is more problematic as he attempts closure. As - he senses at least - is the wronged party he bears the weight of the situation all the more burdened by his continuing affection for Hampus.

It’s as the characters deal with their separating, though intertwined lives that the viewer starts to pick up on the complexities of their relationship, which goes some way towards understanding their actions and decisions.

Writer and director David Färdmar is careful not to apportion blame or to manipulate sympathy too much one way or the other, which helps keep the film and characters rounded. However it doesn’t blend well with the overall air of the film which has a certain spick and spam sterility about it.

This is broken up by bouts of quite graphic sex though it’s never gratuitous. It actually goes some way to developing the characters as with Adrian’s quickie with an ex shows an unpleasantly selfish aspect of his.

The other problem with the film is that however well-acted - and the two leads are very good getting to the core of their characters and the story - it is incredibly slow not helped by the glacial colour palate, and a certain amount to repetition with Adrian and Hampus meeting for coffee and a meal or bumping into each other on the street, gym or bars.

Are We Lost Forever is an extension of Färdmar’s short film No More We (which is included on the DVD and Blu-Ray) and viewing the latter you can see why he felt there was more to tell, though not enough to sustain the feature’s full running time. That and other short films plus cast and director interviews complete a solid set of extras.

Are We Lost Forever will be available on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming services from 18 January.