We Are Both (2023) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

We Are Both takes place in a confined, intimate domestic space shared by Clara and Alejandra. The setting is deliberately understated, keeping the focus on the two women and their inner world rather than on sweeping locations. This enclosed environment is central to the film, since it amplifies the sense of waiting and turns the shared space into a stage for their evolving relationship.

• setting
• location
• where filmed
• domestic space
• intimate setting

We Are Both follows Clara and Alejandra as they wait for a visitor who never arrives. As the hours stretch on, the two women begin to confront the reasons behind their anticipation, and the film uses this stillness to explore how their relationship shifts when stripped of outside distractions. The story deliberately blurs the line between fiction and reality, turning ordinary moments into something theatrical and charged with meaning.

• plot summary
• what about
• story
• premise
• synopsis

Clara and Alejandra are the two central characters whose quiet anticipation drives the entire narrative of We Are Both. They share a close bond that becomes the focus of the film as they navigate endless waiting together, and their dynamic shifts between tenderness, tension, and self-reflection. The film uses their relationship to explore how two people in close quarters can both reveal and reshape each other.

• clara
• alejandra
• main characters
• protagonists
• relationship

The title We Are Both suggests a shared identity or mirrored experience between Clara and Alejandra, hinting at the way the film explores their connection and overlapping inner lives. It implies that despite individual differences, the two women occupy a common emotional space, especially as reality and fiction begin to blur. The title also gestures toward duality, suggesting that the characters and even the story itself exist in two registers at once.

• title meaning
• we are both
• interpretation
• duality
• shared identity

We Are Both explores themes of waiting, companionship, identity, and the fluid boundary between fiction and reality. The film examines how ordinary moments can become charged with meaning when stripped of external events, and how two people in close quarters can both reflect and distort each other. Power and freedom also surface as the characters negotiate who they are within their shared space and their relationship.

• themes
• meaning
• identity
• waiting
• fiction vs reality
• freedom
• power

The film blurs fiction and reality by treating the everyday interactions between Clara and Alejandra as if they were scenes in a play, complete with deliberate gestures, pauses, and heightened emotion. This theatrical framing makes the audience question which moments are genuine and which are performed, collapsing the boundary between the two. The result is a story that feels both deeply intimate and carefully constructed.

• fiction reality
• blur
• theatrical
• performance
• meta
• narrative style

The visitor who never appears functions as a narrative device that gives Clara and Alejandra a reason to remain in place and confront their relationship. The film uses the absence as a mirror, forcing the two women to turn their attention toward each other and toward the reasons behind their own anticipation. Rather than answering who the visitor is, the story treats the wait itself as the subject.

• visitor
• waiting
• absent character
• anticipation
• endless wait

In We Are Both, theatricality refers to the way the film treats ordinary domestic moments as if they were staged performances. Conversations, silences, and gestures are presented with a heightened, almost scripted quality, turning the women's shared space into a kind of stage. This deliberate framing reinforces the film's central tension between what is real and what is performed.

• theatricality
• staging
• performance
• everyday moments
• domestic drama

Clara and Alejandra's relationship evolves from a shared state of waiting into a deeper exploration of intimacy, tension, and self-awareness. The endless wait becomes a mirror that reflects both their closeness and their differences, and the film traces how their dynamic shifts as the boundary between fiction and reality breaks down. By the end, the two women have revealed more to each other, and to the audience, than any visitor could have.

• relationship
• dynamic
• intimacy
• tension
• character arc
• evolution

We Are Both is classified as a comedy-drama, blending moments of levity with quieter emotional weight. The film leans more heavily into dramatic introspection, but allows humor to surface through the characters' interactions and the absurdity of their endless wait. This balance of tones is central to how the film treats the theatricality of everyday life.

• genre
• comedy
• drama
• tone
• classification
• comedy-drama

We Are Both is an original fictional work rather than a retelling of a specific real event. The film draws on universal feelings of anticipation, waiting, and interpersonal connection to build its story, but the characters and situations are invented. Its realism comes from emotional truth rather than from a documented source.

• true story
• based on
• real events
• inspiration
• original

We Are Both has a meditative, understated tone that balances stillness with quiet emotional intensity. As a comedy-drama, it moves between gentle humor and introspective weight, using the slow pacing of waiting to create a contemplative atmosphere. The result is a film that feels both intimate and deliberately staged, inviting viewers to sit with uncertainty rather than rush toward resolution.

• tone
• atmosphere
• mood
• pacing
• meditative
• contemplative