A couple tries to overcome the wounds of a shared trauma.


AFTER (A LOVE STORY) is used with permission from Clare Cooney. Learn more at https://clare-cooney.com.


A couple is attending counseling together. Formerly close and affectionate with one another, Charlie and Edie are having trouble in the aftermath of a terrifying event. Not only do they have to reckon with the attack itself, but how it's affected them, both separately and as a couple.

But as their session unfolds, neither partner knows how to bridge the gap between them. They have to be completely honest with one another about their deepest, most difficult feelings, or else risk growing even further apart.

Directed by Clare Cooney from a script written by Alyssa Thordarson (who also plays the co-lead role of Edie), this quietly affecting short drama captures a couple whose bond has frayed in the wake of a shocking incident. The narrative focuses not on the event itself, but on its aftermath, captured in a particularly painful session of counseling. But as the couple talks, we also see flashes of their happy life in the past, along with the ordinary events leading up to the incident itself. Though we never see the act that tears them apart, we feel how it shatters this warm, grounded portrait of a loving marriage.

This balance of happiness with the aftereffects of the event finds beautiful expression in both the visuals and the writing. The look and feel of the film are clear, natural and rich, but the angles and composition sometimes skew off-kilter, creating notes of visual discomfort and disconnection echoed in Charlie and Edie's present-day dialogue, particularly in counseling. It's sharply observant on how a seemingly open willingness to talk in therapy still can hide thornier, more difficult emotions and truths.

Actors Glenn Stanton and Thordarson peel back these layers in nuanced, honest performances, going to places of raw, riveting vulnerability. Charlie in particular doesn't want to open up, not wanting to take away from Edie's experience or add to her distress. His reticence is well-intentioned, but it's also creating a distance between him and his wife, just when she needs him the most. This distance is almost as distressing in its way as the attack itself -- and may actually push this relationship to a breaking point.

True to its title, AFTER (A LOVE STORY) portrays how a couple is fractured in the wake of shock, but also how they heal together. The story has moving, compassionate insights into how pain is carried under the surface of normal lives. It also shows the ripple effects on loved ones, from the uncertainty of how to speak about the event to their sense of helplessness and shame. But ultimately, the film is a love story, with insights into intimacy and mutual care. And not just a love story about a couple -- it's also a loving testament to honoring how courageous it is to move beyond the shadow of grief and fear without letting it define their lives going forward.