Magnus von Horn's Sweat, starring Magdalena Koleśnik as Sylwia, is playing exclusively on MUBI in many countries in the series The New Auteurs.
I can see you.
Sylwia reads the comment out loud
as it pops up on the screen of her phone
during a live session.
Who can see whom?
She can also see herself;
she's devoted to being seen.
Sylwia says I love you.
Many times.
As if everything was about I love you –
a tired phrase.
But people share it,
about sixty thousand of them now.
Cause what's the point of it all if you can't share it?
Sylwia doesn't have a boyfriend
and she feels lonely.
She shares her feelings on Instagram
giving herself up into the hands of those holding their phones.
They've got her in their grip
and she likes it –
being close to them.
Her phone is her portal.
Touching the screen,
a finger pointing straight at the heart –
a form of closeness.
Phones have hearts too –
the hearts of the people who live in them.
Sylwia has a stalker
Who keeps her in his phone
and in his heart.
When she revealed herself to him
he saw himself
and he doesn't want to stop looking.
But who's looking at whom?