VANITÉ
2026 · 2m
Directed by Dorian Martinez
Genres: drama, essay film, experimental
Tones: contemplative, dark, melancholic
In three tableaux, the film follows the inner journey of a character in crisis who seeks to end his days, where beauty is born of vulnerability, silence, and the suspended instant between life and its end.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's formally composed enough that it almost disappears into itself—three tableaux about suicidal ideation that refuses sensationalism, which is either brilliantly restrained or politely boring depending on whether Martinez trusts the audience to do the work.
A film acutely aware of its debts to structuralist cinema and the visual essay tradition; the restraint with which it approaches its subject—beauty emerging through negative space and temporal suspension—demonstrates a rigorous understanding of what silence can articulate.
The real move here is the decision to let the camera hold absolutely still while the character's interior collapses; in two minutes, that single formal choice—refusal of movement—becomes the entire argument about stillness and crisis.