Axolotl is a 2000 short film (16 minutes) directed by Alexis Dos Santos.
A man (Pascal Langdale) mysteriously wakes up at a train station, unable to remember who he is or how he got there. The only memories he has are flashes of being underwater, standing in water, etc. and the only clue he has to his identity is a briefcase he cannot remember the code for. A woman (Lucy Tillett) who is also at the station follows him after he bumps into her, and takes him home with her when he refuses to go to the hospital. He tries to befriend her, which is made difficult by the fact that she refuses to tell him her name or anything about herself.
Tropes:
- Afraid of Blood: When the woman points out the man’s head injury, he faints after seeing his own blood.
- Amnesiacs are Innocent: The man, while confused by his lack of memories, is friendly to the woman. He also develops a fascination with the axolotl she keeps in her house. We never learn what his pre-amnesia self was like.
- Animal Motifs: The man is associated with the axolotl.
- He’s fascinated by the creature when he first enters the woman’s home, and twice during the film he watches it during moments of introspection.
- At one point, a shot of the axolotl in its tank cuts to a shot of the man completely submerged in the bathtub.
- The axolotl can symbolize embracing the positives of youth. The man is innocent and sometimes seems almost childlike due to his amnesia, and one of the things in his briefcase is a Gameboy, perhaps a connection to a childhood he no longer remembers.
- Belated Injury Realization: The man wakes up with a bleeding head injury, but doesn’t notice until the woman points it out. Later, he’s also shown to have bruises and a large cut on his back.
- Bookends: At the start of the film, the man is found at a train station. At the end, he boards a train at the same station.
- Flashback Cut: After the man is brought into the station and sees a poster for the bay, he experiences brief, disjointed images of swimming in the water. The same happens in a later scene when he falls asleep next to the woman.
- Identity Amnesia: The man suffers from this, being unable to recall his name or any personal information about himself. The cause is never explained.
- No Name Given: Neither of the main characters are named - the former because he’s an amnesiac, and the latter because she refuses to tell him her name.
