Two businessmen, Alexandre and his boss, play a game of squash. The game escalates from "fun" to fairly high stakes, as both players demonstrate that squash is a mental game, not just a physical game.
Direction
Bailliu turns a white box into a pressure cooker.
Acting
Sweat, grunts, and barely suppressed rage—no dialogue needed.
Sound
That ball smacking becomes genuinely unnerving.
Director
Lionel Bailliu
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bailliu's debut short won the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2002—beating out films with 10x the budget.
The no-subtitles approach? Intentional. Bailliu wanted the grunts and body language to feel universally understood, like watching animals fight.