"Pain never lies to you, neither does death. That's why they're my only friends." This is Sophie's self-description that we hear in voice over near the beginning of After Fall, Winter. It is a good description of her life which moves between her two jobs, a care-giver for a hospice and dominatrix. We should perhaps see her as someone who is willing to take care of people in ways others will not. With dying patients she is comforting and at times challenging. Her goal is to make their passing a bit more comfortable, both physically and spiritually. As dominatrix, she gives men the kind of punishment they feel they deserve in a safe setting. It allows them to in some sense exorcize their demons.

The other main character, Michael, also gives us an early voice over self-description: "God's presence has always been undeniable in my life. It's my presence that has been often suspect." A once successful writer, he now is hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and cannot find a publisher. He is very much alone. He at times makes use of S&M prostitutes, allowing them to slap and punch him. He never seems to be satisfied. He considers suicide, but can't bring himself to do it.

When Michael takes up a friend's offer to visit in Paris, he thinks perhaps some time apart will bring him renewal. He encounters Sophie in a store and little by little they begin a relationship, even though neither of them is aware of the thing they hold in common. They are falling in love. Of course, we know that in time those hidden worlds will be discovered.

As I write this it strikes me that this could be a set up for farce. Moliàre would have had a great time with this. But After Fall, Winter takes a darker approach. There is an atmosphere of sorrow throughout the film. Even when things seem to be going well for Sophie and Michael, we are aware of the secrets that lie so close to the surface, that if they are not shared will only lead to tragedy. When things go wrong in this relationship, they go very wrong.

While both characters are interesting, I was more drawn to Sophie. (A bit surprising since Michael is played by director Eric Schaeffer, who is continuing in this role from the film Fall in 1997. He plans a series of four films fifteen years apart.) Sophie's dual life is in fact complimentary. In her role as a sex worker she strives to provide her clients with what they deeply want and sense that they need. In her hospice role we see her developing a relationship with a young leukemia patient. In that relationship she tries to discern what is missing from the patient's life so she can help to make that life complete before death comes.

When this tragedy reaches its end, I thought back on those two self-descriptions. They are indeed apt. They are also very poignant. Each character has his or her own sense of solitude. They begin to find a way to connect to another, when the truth of those descriptions shatters that connection.