FemmeFilmFest20 Review: Troubled Water (Elena Wiener)

Trübes Wasser (Troubled Water), is a short film written, directed, and animated by Elena Wiener. Even from the first frame, the imagery used is striking: the colour palette is simple, minimalistic, reduced to several colours and hues. It seems as if all the unnecessary colours were told to take a holiday and those that stayed were the only ones absolutely needed to tell a story.

The story shows snippets of the life of someone suffering from autoimmune disease: their struggles, their routines, the things they enjoy, and the time spent with loved ones. What was very touching and beautiful was that the film shows not only tribulations, but also moments of relaxation, moments when the protagonist takes a breath and rests, and does something they enjoy.

It was also important to see that they were not on their own, they had someone supportive by their side even when episodes of the illness were at their height. And that someone was not experiencing the same pain and distress. Showing them enjoy a walk in the forest with that special someone felt like balm on cracked skin.

Speaking of cracked skin – the metaphor utilised throughout the film felt so real and raw: the protagonist’s skin was made of a “cracked” pattern akin to cracked stone or wall paint. Every time they were moving, their shape glided over the pattern, as the cracks remained there, careless, and unmoved in the light of the character’s distress.

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The colours chosen by Wiener help emphasise that. There is red: the red of blood coming after scratching, the red of the blanket which protects from the outside world and maybe from the world within at times, the red of the shower curtain or of general objects with which the protagonist interacts. 

A metaphor central to the story is that of the octopus: it moves away on the TV screen, as if constrained in a box, ready to leave at any moment and to squeeze through any crack and extend its tentacles. Just like the octopus, the autoimmune condition and the inner trauma it causes directly or indirectly (or perhaps the inner demons are unrelated to the disease) would try to slip through any crack, in an argument. Or in a moment of suffering, or when the outside world feels unattainable and distant. The octopus tries to grab hold onto the support people, to take them apart and keep them away while suffocating the life of the patient.

Will the octopus win? The audience would have to see the film and tell for themselves. They would be taken on a journey, accompanied by effective, distinct visuals and sound effects that faithfully mark and emphasise every action. It may seem simple, but it is layered and successful in telling a valuable story.