Twelve minutes. In just twelve minutes, so much can be said. Love that transcends time, transcends humanity — it’s like a disease in a way, keeping us tied to those we don’t want to lose. Those ties are stitched together with sickness, but love (and an obsessive need for connection) heals all wounds. One woman acts as her husband’s Darner, keeping his withered body tethered to what’s left of his life.
Darner is a brutal and intimate portrait of a couple consumed by a woman’s dire need to preserve her terminally ill husband.
Darner, IMDB
Darning is a sewing technique used to repair holes in knit fabrics. By stitching in intricate, square patterns, holes are patched using just a needle and thread. The Darner in question is a woman who refuses to let go. As her husband lies in bed, obviously at the end of life and rotting away, she patiently darns not only his clothing, but his skin. Stitch by stitch, she weaves hopeless aspiration to cover his wounds. But the man is understanding, and though he begs her to let him go, he accepts that love conquers all, and she is doing all she can to keep him there with her.
A lifetime of hopes and dreams happens in the span of these 12 minutes. Darner is a vignette of final days and an outpouring of wishes and regrets. Intimate and quiet, the short examines what “in sickness and in health” truly means. Though the man is clearly the one in ill health, the woman can be seen as sick as well, unable to let him pass in peace.
A “quiet” horror film on all accounts, the ticking of a clock and soft movements of the fabric really let the intensity of the situation shine. All at once, Darner makes you want to reach out and extend your arms toward the both of them. Death can be so scary to deal with, but the pain of loss can often be worse. She tends to his oozing wounds as he winces with each stitch, his open gashes and discolored skin strikingly opposite to the knit hearts and homemade sewing work. And though she has spent much time doing this with every new opening, they all eventually become degraded, soggy, and speckled patchwork that matches his rotting flesh.
And throughout Darner are closeups of both the husband and wife. She eases yarn and needle into her mouth, the needle slides through a mended sock, and his tired, weary breaths escape his crackled mouth. Darner almost forces you to reckon with your own notions about life and loss. Is what she’s doing really all that bad — prolonging his life? Are the lines of stitchwork enough to heal him? After his eventual death, will she be able to repair herself?
If I could describe Darner in one word, it would be “haunting.” That is not because there is a ghost or monster or even an existential, inhuman force. What Darner is, is very human, as a matter of fact. It’s almost a childlike thought to try and fix death with a simple patch. But when there’s nothing else you can do, you still want to do something. You need to… for them.
For more about Darner, check it out on Instagram. While you’re there, look out for writer/producer Lauren Jane Barnett on Insta and web.
