A writer must live the content of their work, not just write it. This is the protagonist’s view in the drama feature Sebastian. Max (Ruaridh Mollica), a writer in his early twenties is working on his debut novel. The book about a sex worker requires research, and the pursuit of authenticity takes Max in between the sheets of older men. Fiction becomes autofiction.
Scriptwriter-director Mikko Mäkelä’s second feature film is set in London’s fashionable literary circles. The drama has the same effortless elegance as its milieu and the same underlying unease as its cleverly sketched protagonist. Max shapes his identity in softly lit hotel rooms on the one hand and the pages of his script on the other.
Sebastian also finds other similarities between the professions of author and sex worker: in both, the packaging is important, whether the promotional images are part of a publisher’s marketing material or an online dating service. And in both, emotions become part of the job.
Kaisu Tervonen