Ben and Suzanne, A Reunion in 4 Parts

Official Selection, 2024 SXSW Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

Finally – the time has come for Ben to be reunited with his girlfriend, Suzanne. A hopeless romantic, he lands in Sri Lanka with a suitcase full of books and high hopes for the trip. Almost immediately though, a sense of disconnect creeps in. She’s too busy to pick him up from the airport, and sends her boss instead. At lunch the next day, he is thrown off when she requests a vegan dish. “I’m sure I told you,” she shrugs. His gift of a giant Toblerone is laughed off, “Is that a gag?” In fact, all Ben’s offerings, especially his sexual ones, fall flat with Suzanne, who is preoccupied with her job as a debt collector.

Driven by naturalistic dialogue, vivid colors, and comedic mishaps, BEN AND SUZANNE: A REUNION IN FOUR PARTS is a hilarious, flirty, and endless enjoyable debut from director Shaun Seneviratne. Humorous and bittersweet, the film painstakingly tracks the tiny details of one sincere couple’s awkward relationship limbo while fumbling with adulthood along the way: Suzanne tries to find morality in her capitalist job, and Ben stubbornly believes that Starship Troopers can save their relationship.

With the trip’s end on the horizon and all the cringeworthy moments between them, Ben and Suzanne may still be reluctant to say goodbye for good. As a line from one of Ben’s books reads, “I am most grateful we met, and glad for the incidental torments with appreciation.”

– Yang Jiang

This screening is offered with closed captions. For more information, see the guide to accessibility at this year’s festival.