Queerly Ever After #7: SILENT YOUTH (2012) Part 1

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers. This will be another two-parter. Part 1 will be my review for Silent Youth and part 2 will be an interview I conducted with one of the leads of the film, Martin Bruchmann.

Content warning: there will be some discussion of sexual violence in this article. There is no sexual violence depicted in the film, but it is hinted at in one of the lead’s backstories.

2012’s Silent Youth is not a silent film, but there is a distinct lack of dialogue throughout the film. Instead, it chooses to focus on the things that remain unsaid between its two main characters, Marlo (Martin Bruchmann) and Kirill (Josef Mattes).

Hands Touch, Eyes Meet

Silent Youth, the only feature film written and directed by Diemo Kemmesies, centers on two young men in their early twenties who meet one night while walking around Berlin and timidly embark on a romance. To say that this film is a slow burn, would be an understatement. Marlo (Martin Bruchmann) is an Engineering student from a sea-side town who comes to Berlin to visit his friend Franzi (Linda Schüle). His first night in Berlin he decides to take a walk alone through the city, it is during this walk that his hand brushes against Kirill’s (Josef Mattes) hand while they are both crossing the street. They lock eyes, but keep going their separate ways.

Later, that same night, they run into each other again and slowly get to talking. Kirill lives in Berlin but recently came back from a trip to Russia where he was visiting his grandmother. While in Russia, he tells Marlo, he met up with some guys in a park and went back to one of their places to drink, he later woke up in an elevator without his pants or wallet and with a black eye. He never states he was sexually assaulted by these men, but give the context in which he met them, and current Russian views on the LGBT community, it’s not hard to parse that together. Marlo, despite having a tendency of blurting out macabre facts in awkward situations, shows a particular amount of emotional maturity and never runs or shies away from Kirill, whose behavior through the film becomes, at times, erratic.

Marlo and Kirill end up spending the entire night together, walking the streets of Berlin, taking in the sunset and occasionally talking. Whatever it is, they both feel drawn to one another and decided to swap numbers and meet up again the next day to see where things go. Both men are clearly very inexperienced, it would seem that Kirill is already a little more attuned to his sexuality than Marlo is, who seems to be discovering himself through this budding relationship. Later, when he is at Franzi’s apartment, he tells her that he met someone, when Franzi asks what her name is, it’s clear she always thought Marlo was straight.

Sudden Silence, Sudden Heat

It is during their next date, or technically, their first official date, that things seem to both progress and take a bit of a confusing turn. After wandering around a former Nazi air field, Kirill takes Marlo back to his apartment under the promise of spaghetti, though Kirill has nothing but Nutella and bread at home. Kirill shows Marlo to his bedroom and then awkwardly tries to serenade him with his pretty terrible guitar playing. Then, for some reason, Kirill decides he wants to take a shower, leaving Marlo a little dumbfounded, but he sticks around and Kirill invites him into the shower as well. Obviously, it is during this shower where things get steamy (pun intended.)

It’s what happens after the shower that is really interesting. Marlo knew to tread lightly with Kirill, and during their shower tryst, let Kirill take the lead and initiate everything. When they return to Kirill’s room, Kirill completely shuts down, retreating into a sort of fog until Marlo pulls him out of it by asking “hello, where are you now?” Kirill’s reaction to hooking up with Marlo adds to the likelihood that he recently experienced some sexual violence while in Russia that he needs to work through. He’s also still coming to terms with his own sexuality and possibly feels shame for it.

Not only is Kirill dealing with a recent assault and coming to terms with his sexuality, but he also has a habit of leaving manic and angry voicemails for himself. He plays one for Marlo, who is confused to say the least. It is after playing this recording that Kirill lashes out physically at Marlo, trying to pin him against a wall. Marlo calms him down, and once Kirill is calm, instead of bailing, Marlo just gives him a hug.

He Could Be That Boy

Marlo knows that embarking on a relationship with Kirill is not going to be easy. Even though they haven’t known each other for very long, and Marlo could decide that this is going to be too much for him, he decides that there is enough between the two of them for him to stick around, and help Kirill through whatever he’s going through.

The movie ends on a shot of Marlo and Kirill walking to a train station, their backs to the camera, with each step they take they get closer to each other until eventually, they link fingers. Not quite holding hands, but publicly, holding each other through their interconnected pinkies.

While the film is, at times, too silent for its own good, it is ultimately a poignant piece. The first time I watched it, I kept waiting for something to happen, for someone to say something. I kept wondering why Marlo didn’t just leave. The second time I watched it however, perhaps because I already knew what was, or wasn’t happening, I was more invested in it and in their romance. It certainly ends on a powerful closing shot.

Be sure to check back in two weeks for my interview with Martin Bruchmann!

Watch Silent Youth