CLARE WEST

Great Expectations is a short film about the human quest for romantic love and the pursuit of desire. Using a combination of appropriated and original footage, it considers how expectations of intimate relationships are formed through a prism of cultural influences and prescribed notions of gender stereotypes. More specifically, it addresses the modern-day assimilation of pornography into the everyday vernacular.

The sound element contains a re-enactment of an overheard conversation between two elderly male ramblers and a recorded conversation with a friend’s 13-year-old son. The juxtaposition of these two audio clips aims to create a disconcerting space where the view of a potentially pure and innocent love intersects with the complex nature of human behaviour and the psyche.