I think most people are roughly familiar with Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy poem, the segment Inferno outlining several layers of Hell. These levels (of which we have come to know as some of the “deadly sins”) get worse and worse the farther down your soul travels. Filmmaker Jamie Alvey’s short The Second Circle focuses on a couple trapped in a Hell of their own, troubled by lustful ways and no escape from the nightmare they made for themselves.
Drawing inspiration from the real life tragedy of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, this genre bending short follows a stifled rural housewife and her brother-in-law caught in a cruel cyclical limbo of death, love, and devotion.
The Second Circle, IMDB
Franny (Jamie Alvey) wakes up in a pool of blood, next to her deceased brother-in-law, Paul (Cedric Gegel). Through shots of her going through the stages of grief, to cleaning herself off, and memories of arguments between herself and her husband John (Douglas Dean Mitchell), we see the full picture of days spent entwined in lust — an affair behind John’s back. Stabbed. Shot. Strangled. Again and again. It is clear that the forbidden couple — at least on some level — feels the guilt and shame of their misdeeds. But like the second level of the Inferno, they are doomed to replay the actions that got them there in the first place. Over and over again, no death actually doing them part… not that it could break their pull towards each other apart anyway.
My experience with the Divine Comedy is basic at best, my most recent run-in being the 2010 Xbox game Dante’s Inferno; funnily enough, the level I remember (and liked) the most is the second: Lust. There, you play as Dante as he climbs a tower during a whirlwind storm hiding couples forever grasping at each other’s touch, never allowed to feel their partner’s warmth. The Second Circle exemplifies this concept perfectly; though they always get back together and replay their trysts, John’s (rightful) rage tears them apart, forcing them to relive their deaths day after day.
The Second Circle, shot in 16 minutes of monotone coloring, is a quiet gem that somehow manages to scream in anguish at their fate. In black and white, we can focus more on the supreme acting chops these three characters show, while also hiding the substantial amounts of blood throughout the short — because let’s face it, when you’re so stricken with someone, no amount of “bad” can make you let go of the “good” you see right in front of you. Alvey and Gegel have an insane, believable chemistry, while Mitchell plays the bad guy to a T. The Second Circle isn’t necessarily a simple premise, with time skips and rebirths and whatnot, but it easily gets the point across that Franny and Paul may not be married in reality, but they are still bonded together in the afterlife.
It’s almost as if The Second Circle not only hints at the level of Hell Franny and Paul are stuck in, but the imaginary marriage that they crave to be in as well: an invisible wedding ring on both of their souls. This short is sad and horrifying, but also calming in a way. Horror is funny like that, making viewers able to pick out small moments of hope in a sea of despair (or a ghoulish, macabre tornado, as in the game); it’s clear that Franny and Paul were meant to be together, even if that means dying a thousand deaths in the process.
Some say that Death is our kindest friend, willing to walk us through to the great beyond. The Second Circle proves that, with each dying breath giving way to another life… together.
For more on The Second Circle, visit Love and Horror Productions on Instagram, and give filmmaker Jamie Alvey a follow there as well.
