And Her Body Was Never Found

Jej ciała nigdy nie odnaleziono

backpacking constant tension couple from hell filmmaker’s life girlfriend and boyfriend he said life online mountain expedition narcissist plot twists relationship crisis she said stress toxic boyfriend toxic relationship unease

And Her Body Was Never Found

An original thriller about the breakdown of a relationship and common sense

A couple at odds heads into the mountains to save their relationship and make a film together, but their mutual hostility turns the trip into a battle of nerves. A twisty thriller packed with biting humor, unexpected turns, and tension that builds with every word they exchange.

Jeff and Karen are the kind of couple everyone probably has among their friends. They are constantly at each other’s throats, putting each other down even in front of other people. In short: for their own good and the good of humanity, they should break up. Somehow, they just can’t. In an attempt to save their dying relationship while also making a film together, they head off on a mountain trip. Far from civilization, they finally have a chance to spend some quality time together and have an honest conversation. Or kill each other.

“And Her Body Was Never Found” is both a thriller and a story about a relationship falling apart. Jeff and Karen are so unbearable that it is hard to root for either of them. He has an incurable tendency toward pompous speeches and mansplaining, while she never misses an opportunity to interrupt him. Every piece of dialogue serves a purpose, and every line and scene ratchets up the tension. Eventually, the viewer’s eyelid may start twitching from the stress. This is cinema that is both fascinating and deliberately unpleasant to watch, formally daring and packed with wicked humor. It is a meta-story about a relationship rotting from within, a satire of the independent filmmaking scene, and above all, a brilliantly constructed thriller in which one plot twist after another tumbles under the characters’ feet like boulders breaking loose from a mountainside. Making a film in which the screen is essentially filled with just two characters, mountains, and forest may seem like a risky idea. Here, it works brilliantly.

“And Her Body Was Never Found” is the feature debut of Polaris Banks, who not only directed the film and wrote the screenplay, but also plays Jeff.