Debut: ‘A Brief History Of Us’ Etgar Keret’s & Ofra Kobliner's Remarkable Animated Short Tackles Big Themes Of Individualism & Separation
“My stories are very compact. I want them to say the most complex things in the simplest ways.” – Etgar Keret
A Brief History of Us presents a poetically vulnerable story about an unnamed character’s loss of individualism during and after a long-term committed relationship. The only speaker is the film’s narrator, told through simple, whimsical, comic-like visuals. The short animation tells the story of a couple who have been together for so long that one begins to feel they are no longer an individual but a part of a co-dependent super organism. The opening act begins with an analogy based on the concept of evolution. Our couple is first drawn as a single-celled organism, meant to symbolize the very beginning of their relationship. As their relationship becomes more intense, the couple is shown continuously evolving into the next cycle of evolution, at some points dragging each other along the way. The story’s narration, told in first-person, details their long and sometimes tumultuous journey together and the difficulty of separating from one another. By the end, the storyteller leaves their partner but feels ultimately alone when the realization sets in that, for the first time in a very long time, they are suddenly an “I” instead of a “we.”
The film was written and co-directed by acclaimed Israeli writer, filmmaker, and author Etgar Keret and is adapted from a short story from his 2019 book published in English as Fly Already. In the film’s Q&A portion, he states that A Brief History of Us took six years to complete. Inspiration for the film happened when it occurred to him that long-term couples, including him and his wife of 25 years, often create a shared identity after being together for so long, stating, “the question of where one of us ends and the other one begins becomes tricky.”
A Brief History of Us was also co-directed and animated by Ofra Kobliner and produced by Fumi Studios. The animation is a stunning 2D contour line style with mixed comic book elements instantly captivating the eye. Color is used sparingly throughout the film, making the scenes with color more dramatic and effective to the story’s plot. The simplicity and pace of the animation style and the background sounds blend effectively with the deeper plot and vulnerable narration done by none other than Molly Ringwald.
A Vimeo Staff Pick selection, Vimeo also offers the film with Director’s Commentary and an available Q&A with Keret. The short animation has also been featured and recognized at multiple film festivals, like the 2022 Seattle International Film Festival, Warsaw International Film Festival, and Athens International Film Festival.
