Institute History
Description
Unable to let go of her failing relationship with an older and more successful woman, KAREN, 29, stows away to her estranged lover’s lake house in a remote and beautiful forest in the Pacific Northwest. Here she meets LANA, a provocative young girl of indeterminate age, hell-bent on moving to California, and cultivating an identity that lives up to her expectations of the world outside of her shitty little town. Lana’s yarns captivate Karen, as Karen tries to figure out who she is and who she’ll become outside of an all-consuming relationship. The narrative follows the development of Lana and Karen’s complex attachment. As Karen grapples with her past and expectations for the future, her relationship with Lana oscillates between that of friends, mother/daughter, sisters, lovers, beholder and beheld. The film aspires to simply, but cinematically, explore the cyclical nature of relationships as well as a rarely seen Lolita-like dynamic between two women. Equal parts psychological drama and sexual coming-of-age story, Clementine is a tense rumination on who to love and how to let go.