susan q liu
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” is a short film about a quiet, intimate portrait of an old woman caring for her dying husband, ultimately choosing to let them both slip peacefully into death as an act of love, acceptance, and release. It is influenced by Raymond Carver’s minimalist storytelling, where emotional weight emerges through what is withheld rather than expressed. The film focuses on micro-shifts in behaviour - subtle changes in gaze, breath, and physical tension to suggest an internal turning point.
Like Carver’s characters, the subject exists in a space of quiet conflict, where meaning is carried through pauses, ambiguity, and the accumulation of small, seemingly ordinary moments.
Producer: Allisa Tsukimori
Director: Ruben Vos
Cinematogrpher: Susan Q Liu
Production Designer: Zixia Cheng
Editor: Eddie Cao
35mm