BERLINALE 2020 - If it Were Love (Si c’était de l’amour)

70th BERLINALE FILM FESTIVAL

Patric Chiha's Si c'était de l'amour (If It Were Love) is part exploration of queerness during the 1990s rave scene and part art project on human intimacy and isolation.

Half documentary and half performance art, Chiha's film is full to the brim of passionate, thematic weight with a sizeable emotional punch. The intimate slow dance sequences are unnerving yet undeniably effective in creating an emotional response from the viewer in its soft but tense choreography. Spliced with semi-narrative of its students discussing lust, gender and all things life.

These snippets and moments of character,  while crafted in a clunky and obtuse manner by editor Anna Riche, are effective and poignantly placed to craft broader and deeper layers. That being said, no matter the weight of the characters utilised, these flashes mostly add up as little to no avail when the style and conviction of the central artistic performance are so eye-catching and compelling.

Still, it is understandable why Patric Chiha would add these snippets of character to put a voice and face to these performances. Ultimately, such an element undercuts the poignantly soundless and optical beauty of the choreography involved, undoubtedly ruining the flow of Si c'était de l'amour and undermining its powerful voice through dance and music — two elements that are perfectly embodied in the utterly bewildering and majestic gravitas of this visual art.