Nataal speaks to Faramarz Gosheh about challenging the image of love in his new short

‘What does love look like?’ This is the leading question asked by Swedish film director and photographer Faramarz Gosheh in his latest short. Polly - both the title of the film and name of the protagonist - is about a polyamorous relationship between four individuals. The film asks, is there such a thing as ‘the one’? Can one partner fulfil all your requirements? And are your relationships restrained by society’s norms? Polly makes us address our image of human connection and challenge it.

Yet, Gosheh takes this one step further by probing paternalism and making the lead character female. “I learned that my grandpa (whom I never got the opportunity to meet) lived with three wives in Nigeria throughout my father’s upbringing so I decided to flip the concept and make a woman be the focal point,” he explains.

“I hope the viewer can feel the nuances no matter if they are mono, poly, or something in-between”

Another motive for making this film sprang from watching a documentary of a middle-aged Portuguese man, who was describing his love towards three women and the complexity of having multiple relationships. “The love he described felt so genuine and sincere and he managed to slightly broaden my understanding when it comes to different types of relationships,” Gosheh says. “With Polly I want to push the viewer's spectrum and maybe extend their grey-scale. Polly is about relationships and that's something central in humanity, so I hope the viewer can relate and feel the nuances no matter if they are mono, poly, or something in-between.”

Gothenburg-born Gosheh is represented by Camp David Film, as well as being founder of production company Noor Studios through which he has shot films for brands including Volvo, Warner Music and Hasselblad. This personal project has almost no dialogue yet the narrative is discernible through the use of body language, rhythm, emotion and music. “I have a love for atmospheres and odd locations,” he adds, “I wanted to place the characters in this warm, sweaty, raw, abstract and slightly saturated world where yesterday or tomorrow are irrelevant.”

Having been selected as part of this year's edition of Halebop Creative Call, a platform to give young creators the opportunity to develop their voice, Polly reminds us that love does not look one certain way, it can have many faces. Ultimately, it helps us consider our relationships by revealing the crests and troughs found in the everyday moments; from lust, to intimacy, to jealousy, to sharing.