Separation Anxiety

2014 • 92 minutes

About this movie

Bailey Palmer, a twenty-something dreamer, sits on the edge of the dam overlooking the sunrise. We hear his voice: --I was a good friend. Thatês what he told herÄand I was." We meet Jess and Quinn in their respective worlds; Quinn heading to work in some non-descript cubicle job, Jess sitting in her car near the dam. She calls Quinn, clearly emotionalÄbut about what? Then it hits, in flashes and bursts. Bailey is dead. Sometime later, we see Jess in a kitchen with Baileyês father, Mr. Palmer. Sheês terse, introspective. He asks Jess about Baileyês birthday and asks if she wants to stay for breakfast before the funeral. Swayed by a memory of Jess, Quinn and Bailey eating breakfast together around the table, she relents. Meanwhile, Quinn is stuck in an airport. All flights are delayed for one reason or another. He sits in his own world, isolatedÄuntil an older woman, Lily, strikes up a conversation with him asking for directions. He cracks, ever so slightly, and we get a trace of his wit and demeanor. Throughout, we begin to follow three separate stories: the growing closeness of Quinn and Lily at the airport as they share their trials and tribulations, the conflict between Jessês memory of Bailey and Mr. Palmerês disappointment at what his life became, and flashbacks to the trio of friends together. Through those flashbacks, we fill in the gaps of their history: Quinn and Jessês secret relationship, Baileyês unrequited love for Jess, Baileyês failed attempts to get into art school, Quinn taking a job in Los Angeles and Jess and Baileyês resistance to Quinn moving across the countryÄand finally, it dawns on Jess that Bailey may have killed himself after years of feeling like a failure in the eyes of everyone around him. Alongside Jess and Quinn, we discover the truth about Baileyês fate, cry alongside them as we learn what it means to grieve and how different people do so in very different ways, and attempt to understand what it means to say goodbye.