To paraphrase Anton Chekhov, if you introduce an obscenely large Toblerone bar in the first act, it has to be opened by the third – or fourth, if you’re “Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts,” where the wait to see the human-sized candy bar that Ben (Sathya Sridharan) brings to his longtime partner (Anastasia Olowin) in Sri Lanka unwrapped is the stuff of unbearable suspense. However, that is far from the only tension in the enchanting relationship comedy where the couple is finally in the same place physically after Suzanne’s work has brought her abroad, but quite different places emotionally given the time apart they’ve had to endure.
Things are a bit off-kilter from start of “Ben and Suzanne” when writer/director Shaun Seneviratne throws audiences into the dizzying experience Ben has upon his arrival in New Jersey, capable of speaking a little Tamil, but nowhere near enough to help him find his way to meet his girlfriend. Being brown-skinned, it is assumed he’s the one more comfortable in Sri Lanka, but his white partner is far more at ease, fluent in the local lingo thanks to her work as a loan officer and he can be further unsettled by the fact she isn’t at the airport to pick him up. It’s a sign of things to come when after setting aside 10 days for a romantic excursion across the countryside by train, Suzanne’s boss hires the two a driver and obliges her to visit clients with unpaid dues, essentially turning her into a “debt collector” as Ben jokes bluntly when clearly got into the profession to help female-run businesses with microloans.
When this was neither what Ben or Suzanne had in mind and it won’t be another few months before the latter returns to the U.S., the two start become more attuned to their differences than whatever spark they have, and when Suzanne is consumed with work, she is rarely thinking about intimacy as much as Ben, who unwisely brings along some sex toys as a Christmas gift. Along with the ridiculously enormous Toblerone, other baggage starts to surface as admirable intentions give way to observing a couple that really doesn’t know each other anymore.
As out of sync as Ben and Suzanne may be, cinematographer Molly Scotti does an extraordinary job of channeling their mindset, brilliantly reflecting the distance between them in a tight square frame and occasionally unlocking the camera to roam wild when one or the other loses their heads. Romance is in the air even when the duo doesn’t feel it between one another when the film so lovingly captures the scenery. The most humble accommodations have a rugged charm to them when Ben and Suzanne are content simply with the company they keep and by the time the couple reaches a luxury resort, the more artificial idea of paradise looks like scaffolding on a relationship that has run its course while its participants hold up appearances.
It’s an extraordinary debut from Seneviratne, using every tool at his disposal for the cinematic equivalent of a warm, enveloping hug, from the fuzzy film stock that makes it feel as if you’re already watching a memory to its dazzling score, full of local instrumentation and free association jazz. Set during the holiday break between Christmas and New Year’s, it feels like you’re the one getting the gift and by the time that Toblerone is ripped into, there is so much more that “Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts” reveals, including a host of fresh new filmmakers.
“Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts” does not yet have U.S. distribution.