Toronto International Film Festival 2025 – Writer/director Hannah Cheesman’s Marriaginalia is a wildly inventive short film told in three parts that clocks in at just under four minutes. Cheesman successfully blends the absurd and surreal with the everyday life of a married couple.

The short stars Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll and Kayla Lorette  as an unnamed husband and wife. During the three parts, something unusual happens to the couple, though it doesn’t slow them down. For whatever reason, they keep living their lives per usual. For instance, in the first sequence, the husband discovers a massive, and I mean massive, and gross mole on his back. The wife inspects it, and, for whatever reason, doesn’t act all that startled. In another sequence, the husband cooks an absurdly large baked potato that they have for dinner. Despite some of the bonkers plot points of each of these sequences, the husband and wife barely pause or stop what they’re doing. It doesn’t matter how outlandish the premise is of each segment.

Perhaps Cheesman’s point here is to show the changes that occur within a relationship, be it health scares or changes to the body. There’s another moment where the wife’s tooth suddenly falls out. Yet, the husband hardly reacts. No matter what, the couple remains glued to each other’s side, there for each other, no matter what changes they face or how their body evolves with age and even breaks down. Isn’t that what marriage is about, after all? This couple remains there for each other, through the ups and downs.

With Marriaginalia, Cheesman certainly proves that she’s a talent to watch. This short is funny, weird, and off-kilter. In under four minutes, Cheesman shows off her creativity and talent as a filmmaker. I can’t wait to see what she does next.