Why is modern love so f*cking difficult?

A short film about modern love life, Tinder, online dating and difficult intimate relationships. Told with lots of humor and a generous dose of self-irony.

Modern dating life is difficult. Anyone who has tried to throw themselves into it knows that. The pursuit of great love has given rise to endless frustrations, long lonely nights, and the short film All Strings Attached.

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝔸𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥?

"All Strings Attached is about Maria, who has to find herself again after yet another break-up with her "on-and-off" boyfriend Jakob. At the urging of her friends, she throws herself into the dating jungle to find her prince charming, but dating life in Copenhagen in the year 2024 is not very inspiring to be in. Maria quickly ends up in a consumer culture where people use each other for a while, and then discard each other again.

All Strings Attached is about how difficult it can be to find love in modern society and how easily we forget and neglect ourselves in romantic relationships."

ℍ𝕧𝕒𝕕 𝕙𝕒𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕟 𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕖 𝕧æ𝕣𝕖𝕥 𝕚 𝕦𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕓𝕖𝕛𝕕𝕖𝕝𝕤𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕗 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝔸𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕘 𝕙𝕧𝕒𝕕 𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕖 𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟?

"I am both the writer, screenwriter and producer of the short film. And I also play Maria. The idea for the story came to me as I myself have been a bit of a hopeless romantic for many years, and while all my friends were in and out of relationships, I remained single to my own annoyance.

I had many conversations with my friends who were also frustrated with the dating culture, where you can sleep with a stranger all night, then make out before breakfast and never talk to each other again.

The short film is a mix of my own and my friends' experiences with dating and love, for better or for worse."

📸: Søren Weper

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕤 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕖/𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕚𝕟 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕟 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕔𝕪?

"It was first and foremost important to us that Maria did not become a "victim". The fact is that this "consumer culture" goes both ways, and it was important for us to show that Maria also takes advantage of the men she feels are taking advantage of her.

In addition, it was also extremely important to us that the humor should be as genuine as possible, by creating extremely relatable situations. Therefore, the development has also been extremely fun, because we have accepted input from both the actors and the crew regarding funny dating situations from their lives.

Everyone has a dating story that sounds so absurd that it almost can't be true. We have used those stories as inspiration for the characters in the short film."

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤/𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕕𝕚𝕗𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕦𝕝𝕥 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝔸𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝔼𝕝𝕤𝕜𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕚𝕘 𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟?

"Production-wise it has been a challenge, as we have had an insane number of different locations and only 4 days of shooting. In addition, it was also extremely important for us to create something that was incredibly beautiful visually. For example, we wanted to recreate the shot from The Worst Person in the World, where everyone stands still except the main character. We just didn't have a whole city to make do with, we had a tiny bedroom, where there were going to be about 6 players + a steadicam operator. But the shot turned out super cool, so it was all worth it."

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕒𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝔸𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕?

"I hope that people can relate to Maria's story and can laugh at the absurd situations she is exposed to and exposes herself to. I also hope that people can feel the heart in the short film and be moved by Maria's journey from being enormously dependent on another person, to daring to speak out and stand up for herself."

ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕒 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝔸𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕? ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕓𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕘𝕟𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕚𝕟 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕?

"It's actually not that challenging anymore. Even if you haven't had a "Jakob" in your life, you might know someone who resembles him, or maybe you have a friend who has had a Jakob in the life. Maybe you're a bit like Jakob yourself in some ways?

As humans, we're not as unique as we think. We're all fit into some kind of "type" in the end. And especially when it comes to dating, there are many things that are the same.

That's why we're constantly coming up with new terms like "love bombs" that help describe a trend or a personality type."

Read more about All Strings Attached here.

📸: Søren Weper