But I was not prepared for the visual after-effects, which flash up into your head in bright colours for weeks and months, bringing unexpected smiles with them. Thus in Tuvalu the film, the plot is virtually a sideline to the imagery. It is entirely in sepia, although the action is interspersed by coloured segments that represent the imaginings and dreams of the protagonists. It is set in a grand old public bath that has virtually no regular custom and is almost a ruin. The acting is not grounded in realism, but is extremely theatrical in nature.
Every activity is expressed in a heightened and accentuated form.
There is no secretive pensiveness in these actors, everything they feel is expressed directly by an action. This might sound alien and perhaps even inferior to modern film acting styles, but it makes an explosive fairytale-like piece of cinema, with acting pulling you into the fantasy land of the swimming baths. Revelling in the medium Helmer is not the type of director to hide the fact that he is making a film, he wants the viewer to know this openly and to be imaginative with him. The actors compel you to watch them by their physical expressiveness. Every inch of their bodies is involved in the action, from their eyes through to their fingers.