Danish drama In Ashes (Se Gennem Aske), which world premieres at Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival, follows a gay young man struggling to come to terms with his first heartbreak. Writer-director Ludvig C. Poulsen leaves the audience grasping for details as they are gradually revealed, forming an incomplete but fraught picture of modern love.
University student Christian (Rex Leonard) fills his life with his studies and sex. The soundtrack to his day is the chime of his hookup app, Findr, but he seems to find no real release in his trysts. He’s awkwardly torn between feeling bad when his hookups leave right away and freaking out when guys want to take it slow and get to know him.
It wasn’t always this way. In flashbacks to 2017, we see a fresh-faced Christian getting ready for his first date with Aske (Lior Cohen). Full of romantic ideals and clearly smitten with his new lover, Christian exudes positivity.
This is a stark contrast to the present, where Aske isn’t responding to Christian’s messages. As the movie unfolds, we get hints at what happened, but they only raise more questions. As Christian becomes more isolated from his sister and mother, subsisting on beer and cigarettes, he receives a rude shock.
One day, while scrolling through Findr, Christian sees Aske. The sight of his ex on the app sends him into a tailspin. When did Aske move back? Why hasn’t he responded to messages? At this point, Christian’s pain and curiosity begin to transform into obsession.
Poulsen paces out the information slowly, bouncing between romantic flashbacks and colder exchanges. It works, thanks in part to Leonard’s engaging performance, which carries every scene. Even when Christian is not doing much physically, there is an active mind at work; a complex interiority constantly analyzing every detail. As viewers, we are left playing catch-up, and the answers are not always forthcoming.
The absence of overt exposition makes Christian an intriguing enigma. You could interpret his cavalier sex life as just part of being a gay 20-something in the big city, or as a reaction to his breakup with Aske. Is he seeking external validation through sex? Is it a destructive cycle?
His fearful reaction upon seeing Aske online pushes the film into darker, though not excessively grim, territory. Christian becomes more obsessed with Aske, seeking answers to questions we’re never fully given. The third act descends into a heartbreakingly negative place, but Poulsen pulls back from nihilism with a coda set one year later.
Poulsen includes some unexpected narrative touches that add layers to In Ashes. An interaction with an older man in a bar early in the film has a resonant echo later on. Christian also spends time with a straight friend who remains nameless and faceless throughout the film, leaving us to question whether Christian truly acknowledges his presence, or whether he is even real at all. This uncertainty is amplified by the slightly awkward disconnect in Christian’s relationships and conversations; friendly and engaging, but always with the sense that something is just about to fall into place.
There is a slippery quality to In Ashes that teases viewers with breadcrumbs and we’re left to connect many of the dots ourselves. The film’s strong sense of emotional truth stems from Leonard’s excellent performance.
By Chad Armstrong
In Ashes (Se Gennem Aske) receives its World Premiere at Queer Screen’s 32nd Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney on Thursday, February 20th. Head to queerscreen.org.au for more details and to purchase tickets.
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