What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love

What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love is 2013 Indonesian film directed by Mouly Surya that offers an intimate and compassionate exploration of love, dreams, and human connections, through a narrative that goes beyond the obvious. The film is a moving, beautiful, and visceral take on love and relationships, where characters navigate their complex emotions in an intriguingly quiet world.

Set within the backdrop of a special needs school in Jakarta, Indonesia, the story revolves around a set of visually and audibly impaired teenagers who strive to understand the enigmatic phenomenon known as love. Each character battles to negotiate their way through the torrents of adolescence, while grappling with the additional dimension of their unique disabilities.

The film presents a tapestry of tales, offering viewers a fresh and poignant perspective into how love can be experienced by those who inhabit a world that is primarily non-visual and non-verbal. Exploring themes of innocence, vulnerability, and courage, the narrative breaks away from the mundane and proposes an other-worldly, sensory interpretation of love.

Talented actors Nicholas Saputra, Ayushita, and Karina Salim embody their roles with undeniable authenticity. The young and passionate saputra flawlessly captures the essence of his character's visual impairment, while Ayushita's emotive performance invites viewers into the audibly impaired world of her character with warmth and sensitivity. Karina Salim, too, imbues her role with a kind of quiet strength and resilience that brilliantly depicts her struggle to make sense of a world that is both silent and blurred.

There are minimal dialogues, yet each interaction is powerfully charged with implicit meaning, allowing the audience to enter a hushed world where love and dreams take a unique, sensory form. The director brilliantly uses shadow and light, noise and silence to paint an evocative portrait of a world seeped in unseen emotions and unsaid words. What becomes apparent is that love, in its essence, is a universal language, understood by all, irrespective of one's physical capabilities.

By highlighting elements of innocence and resilience, Surya's masterful storytelling gives the narrative a sensitive touch, showcasing the visually and audibly impaired community not as subjects of pity, but as relatable individuals with dreams, desires and complexities. In crafting these authentic and multi-dimensional characters, What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love effectively dismantles common perceptions about the differently-abled and presents to viewers an unforgettable journey into the human heart.

In documenting the character's day-to-day lives, the camera lends an almost fly-on-the-wall perspective, delivering an unfiltered view of their world, feelings, and innermost thoughts. The dexterous cinematography allows us to see through their eyes and hear through their ears, amplifying the enigmatic beauty of the narrative.

A profound piece of cinema, the film redefines the realm of love and delivers much more than a stereotypical romance. Each scene is crafted with unspeakable delicacy, balanced between the fragility of the characters and the strength of their spirit, thereby traversing the fine line between silence and sound, darkness and light, blindness and insight.

What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love offers a chance to experience a world that is different, but not any less beautiful. It pushes the boundaries of traditional Indonesian cinema and raises a voice for the differently-abled community. This film does not primarily seek to entertain, but rather, to educate, inspire, and stimulate a conversation on the unique experiences faced by those who see and hear the world differently.

A movie where love stories transcend beyond the audible and the visual, capturing the essence of raw emotions and finding a common language that speaks directly to the heart. It is a must-watch for anyone interested in thought-provoking, evocative cinema that explores the human condition in all its complexity, inviting viewers to look beyond the surface and confront their own understanding of love.