European arthouse film, likely 1990s, almost no dialogue. Redhead girl, silent dark-haired lover disappears, she brings a stranger home from a basketball court, the encounter falls apart, she breaks down. Lover returns in the final shot. 4-5 actors, handheld.
I've been trying to find this film for a long time. I posted on Reddit about it before without success — this is an updated version with details I've remembered since.
Format:
- Likely a European arthouse film. Originally I thought 2010s, but the look feels older — most likely 1990s, possibly very early 2000s, maybe even late 80s.
- Color, not B&W.
- Most likely shot handheld, raw, almost amateur — natural light, sometimes slightly tilted framing. Visually very close to Bruno Dumont's 'La vie de Jésus' (1997) — but NOT that film.
- Very small cast (roughly 4–5 people total in the whole film).
- Almost no music. Almost no dialogue. There may have been subtitles — the original language seems European, not English, but I'm not 100% sure.
- Summer Mediterranean / southern European atmosphere. White laundry / bedsheets on lines blowing in the wind, curtains blowing in the wind, a white bed.
- Watched it a long time ago — most likely someone downloaded it via torrent.
Plot fragments I remember:
Main character: a young red-haired woman. Emotional, sensual, a bit obsessive / unstable.
A dark-haired (slightly curly) athletic young man appears — mostly silent, often in a loose white shirt open at the front. Intense non-verbal chemistry. They flirt, play, get close almost without words. Summer, dreamy, almost a fantasy.
The man suddenly disappears. No clear explanation given. She struggles emotionally, becomes desperate.
Key scene I remember clearly: she sees another young man near a basketball court (he might be Black, wearing a red T-shirt / sweater / hoodie). She basically drags him home as a replacement for the first guy. They get to her hallway / entryway, but the encounter doesn't work out — it falls apart almost immediately, both emotionally and physically. This is what finally breaks her: she pushes him out, then cries in that same hallway in despair. The scene is handheld, raw, awkward and very 'real' — but the focus is on her emotional collapse, not on the intimate side.
Final shot: the first young man suddenly reappears. Feels more like a ghost / vision / dream than a normal realistic return.
Confirmed NOT:
- 'Love' (Gaspar Noé, 2015)
- 'Les amours imaginaires / Heartbeats' (Xavier Dolan, 2010)
- 'Signs' (2008 short film)
- 'La ardilla roja / The Red Squirrel'
- 'Sex and Lucía' / 'Goodbye First Love' / 'Alps' / 'Marfa Girl' / 'It Felt Like Love' / 'Wasp' / any Bruno Dumont film (close in style, not it).
Any direction would help — director, country, even just a stylistically similar film I could chase down. Thanks in advance.