"Published" at DAZED.com reviewing my short film

1. Still taken from ‘Spotless’
Spotless Student Film Hit’s the Big Screen
The emergence of new cinematic talent who took the BFI Film
Festival by storm.
During the BFI Film Festival - we managed to interview winner of The Short Film
Award, upcoming directorial talent, Milly Devine. Devine’s film ‘Spotless’ takes
a pulchritudinous take on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the miraculous
balancing act of order and chaos. This visual stimulating piece of film is
reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s work and embodies the beauty of the short film
in this 5 minute masterpiece.
The film captures the lives of OCD sufferer Phoebe and her slovenly housemate
Molly and struggles of relationships and regulations. Phoebe’s type of OCD
consists of Symmetry and Orderliness combined with Intrusive Thoughts which
make her become irrational scared when things are not as they “should be” and
can spend extreme periods of time trying to reorder the problem to stop the
immense stress and fear caused by these Intrusive. “I feel like OCD suffers are
stereotypes for being these over-exaggerated neat- freaks and have this
‘cartoonised’ condition”, Milly said she wanted to break the mould for OCD
suffers in the media and take a fresh and honest approach when creating the
character of Phoebe. Phoebe is actually based on Milly’s mother who suffers
with OCD to this day, “I never understood my Mum’s condition until I was a
teenage really, but remember not between able to sit down on the sofa until
she’d wiped and sanitised every surface in the house, I genuinely thought she
was mad to be quite honest”.
The films main theme is OCD, Phoebe’s character isn’t seen as a tortured soul
or some kind over exaggerated “crazy” person as the vast majority of
depictions show, however Spotless showed a refreshing perspective where OCD
was just something there that Phoebe (and Molly) deal with rather than this
debilitating disease. Of course for some sufferers do struggle living with OCD a
have a horrible time coping with their condition but too often have film and TV
have dramatized mental illness leaving this mass of stigma across our culture,
imagining people crumbling at the slight speck of dust. But like all mental-
illnesses their isn’t just one type of OCD there is a huge variety making it hard
to define what type of OCD someone could have and what their symptoms could
be. It’s important that we recognise films like this for its more honest and light-
hearted approach and encourage more positive re-imaginings of sufferers.
Graphic visual amplify the OCD ten tendencies and produce a visual order

2. Spotless takes the OCD condition and adds a level of understated artistic quality
similar to the likes of Richard Ayoade’s Submarine. The construction of these
symmetrical shots help the average viewer transcend into this world of order
composed from Phoebe’s intrusive thoughts. A truly captivating piece of film
effortlessly captures a story of friendship and struggle without hiding the ups
and downs of day-to-day life. I thoroughly enjoyed the film for its story,
characters and overall presentation, the slick filming really enabled me as
viewer to be part of this world you’re watching as if you’re actually in the room
with Molly and Phoebe.
When watching the short, something that stood out to us was the
unconventional use of bird’s eye view shots with gave a new take on the
perspective shot and really captured the OCD visual in a really distinctive way.
Clear inspiration from cinematography great Wes Anderson really shine through
with moments like this. In particularly, the dinner table scene where clear lines
of symmetry between the two girls can be seen as they eat a bowl of spaghetti.
Every detail has been considered, down to the salt and pepper dispensers and
tulips which have been evenly placed across the shot to amplify the obsessive
aesthetic in every aspect of the film. Despite the low budget and half-decent
filming tech, you can see the meticulous planning and detail of shot showing
the level of care in each frame giving a huge sense of pride for this young
director.
With a small cast it can often leave space for more criticism but the
performances by Molly Lambourne and Phoebe White stood out and held the
narrative on their shoulders and carried it well together as a cohesive, balanced
team allowing each other’s characters to smoothly bounce off each other as the
polar-opposites. Devine picked both of the actresses’ based on their traits
already and then augmented these personalities’ in the film to produce the
realistic characterisation. Both actresses’ took on the roles well and gave the
characters personality which you could tell went much deeper than the film
itself. Molly Lambourne said she found her character to be “liberating extension
of her messy beast inside”, this clear sense of connection between character
and actor is what I think makes the performances so believable which is
impressive for such young actors.
Honest, bittersweet and as distinct as you’d expect from a student film, Devine
has created the sense that we are all just ordinarily special. With help from the
tremendous performances, a lovely sense of the reality of managing a mental
illness. Overall, Spotless presents an exciting opportunity for Milly Devine’s
career in film and shows only a small glimmer of her potential for the future.