Diane

2016, 20 minutes

Sean struggles to move on with his life after his dead wife’s personality is transferred to an experimental computer program.

After Sean’s wife, Diane, is killed in a car accident, an ominous corporation, headed by the calculated Dr. Hirsch, proposes an experimental procedure to transfer her memories, personality, and consciousness into another form. Sean, driven by a state of grief and despair, agrees to the experiment and returns home to find a computer program whose behavior is eerily reminiscent of his deceased wife. Reunited and interacting through video monitors installed throughout his home, Sean sets out to recreate his past life with Diane, whose existence is limited to the confines of the screens’ ever-changing visual environments, which sometimes mirror rooms in the house and at other times reflect a location significant to her relationship with Sean. Sean soon warms up to the new iteration of Diane, the construct and essence of her identity seemingly perfectly in tact as the two, “together,” engage in mundane activities that take on a precious quality to Sean through their reflection of a return to normalcy. The formerly grieving husband obsesses over preserving the relationship with his wife that had seemed forever lost, constantly replaying the memories that define the new Diane’s identity. Unbeknownst to Sean, Diane begins exhibiting signs of isolation in her new environment, quietly lamenting in her pixelated prison as her husband blindly dwells on the past. Sean begins to question just how much of his wife has transferred to this new entity and whether a relationship based on past memories can lead to any sustained happiness. As Diane, herself, begins to voice her doubts regarding the nature of her new existence and marriage, Sean is faced with the ultimate dilemma: to hold on to Diane at any cost possible or to accept her death and move on in the face of tragedy.



Connected mandy members:

Frank Cohen
Production Assistant
Producer
Viktor Weiszhaupt
Sound Recordist
Boom Operator
Karl Soelter
Sound Operator
Head of Sound