You Are So Loved

Abstract

The Film You Are So Loved is a 17-minute narrative drama film, which focuses on Amy, a young woman who is living in an abusive relationship. Amy tries to leave her husband, but this proves difficult, as he is manipulative and threatening. Her despair is punctuated by a well-meaning acquaintance, made at a local Christian church as well as a series of visions, which Amy begins to contemplate may be the voice of God.
The film has two principal purposes: to engage with the issue of domestic violence, which often remains undetected even by those closest to the sufferer and the role of Christianity to help people in deeply challenging situations.
The film is one in a series of films, in which Jonathan Kemp investigates ways to make Christian films which avoid didacticism and are relevant to non-religious people, especially young people. For this reason, Kemp draws on the British social realism tradition of directors such as Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold, using a linear narrative in an everyday setting, unknown actors and colloquial language, depicted using mostly handheld camerawork. The coastal landscape, where the couple live, acts as a realistic setting, as well as a metaphor of a border between life and death and sanctity and profanity. The social realism style is deviated from only in terms of the audio treatment, which is designed to be more subjective and a reflection of the internal world of the protagonist, as well as a number of transcendental sequences, which act as visions of the past and hint at possible futures.
Kemp adds elements which mark the film as distinctly Christian, such as the church setting in some scenes, the character of a Christian acquaintance who visits the protagonist, the discussion of prayer and the apparition of Christ, which the main character sees in a moment of crisis.