Memories of Paris

The faces in the family photograph blur and are slowly replaced by the image of a bedroom & bathroom in a city bedsit and with the sudden advent of salsa music, the melancholic mood switches abruptly to an upbeat, optimistic and youthful vibe. A couple enter the room. They are getting ready to go out: she is drying her hair, checking her appearance; his is a more simple routine involving a clean T-shirt and the TV! Their body language is familiar, bantering, suggesting they know each other well and they dance a few salsa steps playfully before heading out to join friends who are dancing salsa style steps in unison in a bar across the way. The atmosphere is full of ease and fun; a memory of happy times.

One couple leave the party and those that remain now move and dance in slow motion which sets up a distinct change of mood and suggests a shift away from real time. Instead of the young carefree couple who left the bedsit, it is Danny and Becky from the strop duets who return to it. They embrace but now, all is not well. Danny leaves and Becky goes to follow but stops in her tracks, as if struck by a headache and momentarily confused. All the liveliness and fun in the action and soundtrack is sucked away and the scene ends on a sombre, foreboding note.