Just between us, did the “All Too Well” short film maim you too? Because let me tell you, I might seem okay but I haven’t been fine at all since watching this short film. Miss Swift has done it again — it being making all of us cry and mourn a relationship that we haven’t had.
Starring Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink, the film details aspects of “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” and the heartbreaking relationship that it entails. The song itself is ten years old, being re-released in its original 10-minute format by the request of Swifties with the rerecording of the Red album. The short film is a sort of music video for the song, having the track playing over compilations of the relationship that reflect the lyrics.
There’s a lot to unpack with the relationship shown in this short film. For instance, Dylan O’Brien is ten years older than his co-star, Sadie Sink. With everything that Taylor does, this age gap is intentional. It’s a reflection of her past relationship and is cast this way to make you feel uncomfortable.
Throughout the short film, this relationship shows that it’s far from healthy and leans more towards being toxic. Sink’s character, who we learn is 20, seems to be the only one who cares about this relationship but is also the one who feels uncomfortable in it the most. Whenever she’s out with O’Brien’s character and his friends, she’s seen cowering at the table with an untouched glass of wine — something that she isn’t legally allowed to have, so she doesn’t. After their argument in the kitchen, O’Brien’s character holds her closely and apologizes after yelling at her only seconds before.
We see their relationship end with virtually no communication, just a blank stare and a few words muttered from O’Brien’s character — words that we can’t hear over the song. Then we cut to Sink’s character crying as her phone rings, presumably from O’Brien. Throughout the film, their acting — Sink’s in particular — was amazing, but this was the scene that had me crying in the middle of Hollywood Studios watching the premiere. She delivered this scene and all of the pain we’ve heard from it in the song and brought it to life.
When we cut back to clips of their relationship, O’Brien’s character talking with her father and making jokes, all that I felt was anger. I’d always hated who this song was about, but seeing it played out before me brought on a whole new level that I didn’t realize existed. Now, instead of crying along to the five-minute version of the song, I yell it at the top of my lungs in my car. “The Remembering” is the chapter of the short film that makes me the angriest because we’re shown this relationship of two people being happy when we know how it ends and how one-sided it really was. Not to mention how disturbing it is on his end, being with someone a decade younger than he is while knowing that she’d do anything for him and using that to his advantage.
“Thirteen Years Gone.” I’m pretty sure I screamed so loudly when I watched this chapter that all of Echo Lake heard me. In this scene, we see an older her off to the signing for her book, cleverly titled “All Too Well.” It’s presumed that this book is about her relationship, finally being told in its truth. No longer is Sadie Sink in her place, but Taylor herself. And outside the window of her signing is him, still wearing her scarf and looking at her life while she’s up and moved on — but most importantly she’s grown. And while writing this paragraph, I just put the pieces together that this is Taylor Swift finally telling the full story in the way that the character is in this short film. The full version of her relationship, of “All Too Well,” is finally out in the public for everyone to hear. That’s what I love about Swift’s creativity and music, you can pick up things no matter how many times you watch or listen to anything she’s done.
All Too Well: The Short Film is nothing short of a masterpiece. Swift has taken a song that we all loved and made us all cry over it more. She’s said that we all changed this song for her from something sad to something happy because of the life that we took on for this song and now she’s done the same for us.
Stream Red (Taylor’s Version) and “All Too Well (Ten Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” if you need to fully experience sad girl autumn.