Eryka + Elise [The Tunnel] // Whenever You're Ready

#fanvidfeed #viddingisart #femslash

Please don't steal/repost.
So I made this for Round 2 of the #WLWContest hosted by the amazing Sil. The theme was taking a canon ship that wasn't endgame and changing their ending so that they did end up together. I actually had a lot of manips already ready for this ship (because I've been planning to do a video that gives them a happy ending for quite some time) but I wasn't 100% certain how much we were allowed to use from other shows, so I ended up only using two or three scenes Mostly, I just took clips from the actual show and changed the context of them or used photoshop to edit the text, email and letter so that they showed the poem from Pablo Neruda.

In the show, Eryka disappears after saving Elise's life and we never hear from her again. But in this, I've had Eryka start contacting Elise by sending her poems by Pablo Neruda (which fit because the last books Eryka gives to Elise are poetry books by Pablo Neruda, and the voiceover of her reading the poem is from their final scene together on the show). It takes time but when Elise is ready to let Eryka back into her life, she sends her a letter with the final verse of the poem "I want to do to you what spring does to cherry trees", to let her know that she's ready. They meet up, have a talk about things, including Eryka's betrayal, and Elise lets her know that she wants them to be family (which is something that neither of them have anymore). It ends with them at the beach, happy together. If I was writing the fanfic, it would be a lot more complicated than this, as there's clearly a lot the two need to workout and discuss, and a lot that stands in the way of them getting back together, but for the purposes of a video I just wanted to keep it as simple as possible.

I actually really, really hate this edit. I realized once I'd done the style that I hated the style - it looked too clumsy and weird - but by then it was too late to change anything. To be honest, I had a hard time finishing this edit. My heart wasn't in it. I've been having a really rough time physically and mentally and then Naya died and then it was the anniversary of my dog's death, so editing for a ship that I wasn't passionate about at the present time was just making me feel worse. And then windows updated my computer and, like always, has caused so many problems so a lot of my programs aren't working properly (like sony vegas) and it's been so stressful. But because I'd started it beforehand and spent a lot of time on it, I didn't want to abandon it or not get it done in time for the contest because then it would have felt like a waste. But I'm honestly so relieved it's over with right now, even if I do hate the final product, because I just want to move on and edit something that will make me happy.

Eryka and Elise are one of my all time favorite canon wlw ships. Their relationship is just so beautifully written and I love each character so much. They're fully developed characters in their own right, and extremely interesting. Eryka and Elise are the definition of two people who are perfect for each other, but whose lives aren't compatible. If they met in another universe, or if their circumstances were different, I could see them being very happy together. I think if soulmates exist, these two are it. They just didn't meet at the right time, and their opposing views and moralities (not to mention lifestyles) create an uncrossable divide between them. Still I love them so much, I'm also a sucker for accents so Clemence and Laura had me so weak lol. As someone who loved the original series, The Bridge, I also really loved The Tunnel (particularity s2) and I thought like it managed to become its own show, away from the source material. (we're just gonna ignore what happened in s3, where they basically ruined Elise's life and emotional well-being and then killed her off. I don't accept that, nope. Especially since it happened after a change in writers. You could really see the change in the show)
Being autistic, I also related a lot to Elise’s character, same with Saga in The Bridge (though the two characters are quite different). I've read articles from people on the show that say she's autistic and then others saying she isn't. I'm going with the fact that she is. Because she has so many of the behaviors and thought patterns and honest to god we need more representation out there for women on the spectrum, and seeing one on tv who is also queer that I could relate to made me feel really happy. The fact of the matter is that she's written in a way that's heavily autistic coded, so stepping away and denying that doesn't really seem fair when there's so little representation out there.

Characters: Elise Wassermann + Eryka Klein
Show: The Tunnel (French/English version of The Bridge)
Actors: Clémence Poésy, Laura de Boer
Coloring: shining dust

#wlw #clemencepoesy #lauradeboer #thetunnel