Sift.Simmer.Shred.

When lockdown arrives, Xavier and Arthur, a gay couple, move back in together in a small London studio flat, and the closeness they once wanted becomes much harder to live with. Their days revolve around cooking, eating and the small rituals of a shared space, but with nowhere to retreat, old patterns resurface and the tension between them slowly rises to a boil. Directed by Caglar Kimyoncu, who made the film with collaborator Michael Achtman, this British drama grew out of weekly improvisation sessions held over Zoom with its two actors, Delcio Ferreira and William McGeough, before a quick shoot with a very small crew. The result is an intimate, closely observed portrait of a relationship under pressure, attentive to the ways control and dependence can hide inside everyday routines, and to how confinement strips away the stories two people tell themselves about each other.