White Fire
2007, 8 minutes
Laura struggles alone with the grief of losing her lover Michelle.
Laura struggles alone with the grief of losing her lover Michelle. On the day of Michelle?s funeral, Laura travels out to an isolated, cliff-top church in Cornwall where Michelle?s family, the Berriman?s, preside as parish vicars. Uninvited and decidedly unwelcome, she has brought a bouquet of white roses, a token of her love. Leading the funeral service, Michelle?s sister, Angela reinvents Michelle?s life and loves; staring at Laura she claims Michelle was a young girl who used to ?chase the boys?. Through a series of flashbacks we see Michelle?s true nature as she falls in love with Laura. She confides in Laura that she was terrified as a child by her sister Angela, with threats that if she was a bad girl she would end up `down there?, buried beneath the ground. Michelle expresses the wish to be cremated. Michelle?s one ally, her brother Paul, helps smuggle Laura into the home to meet the rest of the family, they are met with hostility and leave, angry and hurt. By the graveside, Laura watches the Berriman family complete the ritual of the funeral service. Left alone, she scatters petals from a white rose over the coffin. Laura feels compelled to honour Michelle?s wish to be cremated. Within the bouquet of roses is a concealed home made incendiary device. In a devastating final act of love, Laura sets fire to the coffin in the grave; the flames of the white fire.
Companies involved in this production
Connected mandy members:
