Me and You and Everyone We Know Redux - Stone

In Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July 2005) there is one scene in particular that grapples with a huge theme in the movie, human beings reaching out through technology. The scene I’d like to look at is the one in which Nancy Harrington, the gallery director, returns to her office and watches the rest of Christine Jesperson’s (Miranda July) video.

The scene is shot in a sort of shot reverse shot between Nancy, standing at her desk, and Christine, superimposed on the TV. This gives the scene the feeling that there is a real conversation going on. This touches on a broader theme in the movie, this idea of technological communication in the new millennium. In the scene Christine has a mock back and forth with Nancy who naturally does not respond to any of Christine’s questions, as she is alone. And yet the scene feels like a real dialogue laced with each characters misconceptions about the other. Nancy Harrington looks at Christine as a young untalented young girl, and as expressed in the dialogue Christine is sure that Nancy, who she thinks will never watch the film, has a big family. Christine’s assumptions are immediately understood to be untrue, as Harrington is standing alone at her desk. What the viewer will find out later is that Harrington is trying to meet a man online.

You can see this developing theme in the scene of reaching out. Christine is desperately reaching out to Nancy, almost begging her to call so that she knows she has seen her work. Nancy as the viewer finds out later is reaching out for human interaction. As Christine’s words in the scene touch a nerve with Nancy the camera creeps in closer. This seems to be another theme in the film that is touched on in the scene, this idea that in the completely informal, impersonal technological world there are still moments that can change people, or touch them in some way.