“All your faults are in me” utilizes many of the old tropes of classic melodrama: a man who drinks too much is emotionally distant from his wife. She makes him a romantic dinner, dresses up nicely for him, and requests to have a baby, only to watch her husband panic and drive away. Some deep guilt is haunting the husband, and the wife can’t get through to him. But while detailing the usual semantics of the genre, this short film takes a left turn, surprising us with its complexities.
Director Robert van Halteren has crafted a beautiful little story here, using competent actors and high production quality to tell the story of a marriage unraveling. Though he leaves the viewer guessing what the breaking point was in this relationship, he offers sign posts along the way that verge on cliché and then ultimately make their break. You may think you know exactly what you’re watching, but it takes an excellent storyteller to give you clues along the way without making them obvious. Judging by “All your faults are in me,” Halteren is that excellent storyteller.
In addition to crafting an intricate plot in such a short time frame, Halteren also provides insights into a subject that short films have explored countless times before. Told from another perspective, using home movies as an element of family, this film has a heart and soul that would be hard to miss.
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