Ana travels to Paris to confess her love, only to learn that her beloved Suzanne is about to marry the man she once swore to forget. Confronted with this news, Ana opts for a final goodbye. But can she truly break free from a toxic idyll, or will she remain trapped in a relationship that slowly erodes her?

Review by Victoria Angelique:

The short film, IN THE ABSENCE OF YOUR SMILING FACE, is a beautiful allegory to friendship, love, and heartache. The story follows Ana and Suzanne’s relationship, with Ana not being able to support Suzanne’s engagement to Jean. The audience can understand the past with these women as words convey an entire history. Suzanne has been hurt by Jean before and Ana doesn’t want to see it happen again, to the point she’s willing to break off their friendship. 

This feels like an ultimatum at first, though it is a light one. At first, it seems like Ana is projecting her own feelings towards Suzanne, not wanting her friend to marry for her own personal feelings. Once the story shows Jean, the audience can see that Ana’s concern for Suzanne is genuine. This is not a nice man. Suzanne doesn’t want to be alone for the rest of her life and should consider herself lucky enough to have a friend like Ana that was willing to travel to Paris in the hopes she could save her friend from a miserable and abusive marriage.

Jean isn’t abusive in the physical sense, but the way he speaks to Suzanne is a giant red flag. He is condescending towards this woman that he supposedly loves. It is natural to get annoyed when someone is texting while they eat with another person, it becomes an entirely different matter when Jean’s voice oozes control as he suggests to Suzanne that it is time to grow up. Ana watches from the cafe window, the look on her face showing that she knows Suzanne is doomed if she marries Jean.

The glimpse of hope is given in the final few seconds of the film. Ana is walking away from the cafe when she receives a text to meet her for breakfast the next morning. The film is left open, so the audience gets to decide if Suzanne actually marries Jean or if she is able to be persuaded at breakfast the next morning to not marry a man that will make her miserable.