USA Character Project

In this hilarious look at modern romance, a young woman relives twelve failed love affairs, all in one dizzying morning. As her ex-partners flit in and out of her life in one unbroken shot, each interaction shows signs of the relationships' demise, capturing the humor, hope, and disappointment that the search for love so often brings.

Bryan Poyser is a two-time Independent Spirit Award nominee. His second feature, Lovers Of Hate, premiered in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards. Lovers screened at over a dozen other festivals around the world and was released theatrically by IFC Films. Poyser was nominated for the Independent Spirit "Someone to Watch" Award in 2005 for his first feature, Dear Pillow. He lives and works in Austin, Texas.

Perhaps like many people who have had trouble finding an ideal long-term partner, I've spent a lot of time mentally sifting through the wreckage of old loves, trying to figure out what went wrong, or exactly when I lost interest, or when they did. It was during one such recent personal archaeological dig that I came up with the idea for THE FICKLE - in one mesmerizing, un-broken take, a woman experiences 13 mornings with 13 former lovers all at the same time, losing herself in the question — has she just been too damn picky?

Mornings reveal so much about relationships — who wakes up first, who hates waking up, who's gonna make breakfast, who should never make breakfast again. Since you're only half-awake, you're 100% yourself — it's before you're showered, dressed, and wearing the face you show to the world. So, morning seemed like the perfect time to set this surreal journey back through past loves for our main character, Jessie.

Why do it in one take? It seemed like the best way to heighten the disorienting, distressing quandary in which our main character finds herself. I hope, with the first couple of "Guy-switches," the audience will be taken by surprise, unsure if they saw what they thought they saw, nudging the person next to them and asking "Is that the same guy?" Because that's what Jessie is asking herself — "Haven't I done this before? Haven't I said these exact same words to someone else that is now gone from my life? Why do I keep doing this?"

By the end of the film, when we land at the kitchen table with Jessie & Almost Perfect Guy, she thinks maybe she will get a chance to stop asking those questions, that maybe she has found someone who checks all the boxes on her wish-list. But with an innocent but perhaps too familiar gesture, Almost Perfect Guy shatters this illusion.

We leave Jessie as she grapples with a choice, a choice she's been grappling with for way too long now — can she learn to accept and love the total package, warts and all? Or will she keep looking, and leaving and losing out on love?