Love Hate is a short film starring Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell. Whishaw plays Tom, a kind, polite, somewhat socially awkward charity worker, and Atwell plays Hate - literally the personification of Tom's hate that he's been repressing for years. This creates a bizarre, darkly comic and surreal scenario.
When Hate arrives into Tom's mundane boring life - where he tries to be a 'nice guy' - she is everything that he is not. She is loud, confident, cynical, blunt. When the two first converse, he mutters, and stumbles over his words, while she is bold. Their differences are reflected in their wardrobe - and this stage, Tom wears loose, neutral clothing, with the only splash of colour being his orange charity t-shirt. Hate dresses in more risqué clothes, in deeper shades and harsher fabrics.
Slowly, Hate starts to get to Tom. Tom starts to feel Joy in being wicked, revelling in his pent up disgust. She manipulates him, making him watch as she tears his favourite teddy apart alongside his life.
As Hate takes over more and more of his life, Tom becomes an entirely different person. He dresses in darker colours and behaves in a similar way to Hate. At one point, when he is lying on the floor in pain, Hate comes along and kicks him several times. When he asks her why, she responds by asking him if he had ever heard of self-hate.
Love Hate creatively explores the balance one must have to live a pyschologically balanced life. The reason Hate has so much power over Tom is that he has repressed her for so long, she has not been allowed to be let out and dealt with, She has simply grown and grown. You can't live a Hate free life, but, as Tom found out to his peril, that doesn't mean Hate should be allowed to control you.
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