Marcel Winatschek

The Actual Kiss

Two people kiss with their eyes closed. That’s the entire content of Anne Sorrentino’s videos on the subject. No framing, no reason, no music underneath. Just the fact of it.

It shouldn’t feel radical. But we’re so used to kissing as a plot point, as advertisement, as something that serves the narrative, that the actual thing looks strange. In films it’s timed to a swell. In ads it sells whatever they’re selling. In pornography it’s foreplay. Everywhere it’s in service of something else.

Sorrentino’s videos just show up. They don’t explain anything or make an argument. You watch and the difference is obvious—between what you’re usually offered and what’s actually happening when two people are just there together.