Theo & Martin

Flurina Schneider distills the charged interplay between Theo and Martin into an eponymous Super 8 film that is barely three minutes long while dispensing with sound entirely.  

Two young men meet, gradually growing ever more intimate, a crackling erotic tension is in the air. They do not come across as inexperienced or shy and they both seem thoroughly aware of their mutual desire. Despite their self-assuredness, their first advances take the form of lightly tender caresses and penetrating gazes, a cautious courtship and teasing. Their inquisitively sensuous lips briefly find each other before moving on to discover their bodies, the coveted other that Theo and Martin are just beginning to explore.  

They let their encounter takes its own time as they fall into talking, dancing and laughing. Their eyes dance, at times flirting mischievously, at others erotically gleaming. Their gazes draw them together, tenderly gliding over one another's bodies. Obviously the two men are having fun with and through each other as they slowly begin to merge.  

Flurina Schneider captures the tremulous, exploratory desire of Theo and Martin in feverish images with a camera that circles around their bodies. The images are fragmentary, like the sensuously experienced act of touching, briefly flaring before dissolving into the next instant of awakening desire. Vaguely recognizable places – including a bed, a couch, and a bathtub – become erotically charged, much like the red light in which the couple is enveloped. Explicit scenes of sexual acts are omitted, and yet these few minutes of film are brimming with erotic power, leaving no doubt about just how beautiful sex between men can be. (Andreas Brunner)

Translation: Eve Heller