| Letter | Title | Content Summary | |--------|-------|------------------| | A | Alphabet | Sets up the structure; a girl recites the ABCs. | | B | Break | A family vacation photo where the father stands apart. | | G | Girl | The narrator describes being a “tomboy” – her father’s disappointment. | | M | Monsters | Imagining her father as a monster (mythological and real). | | S | Sink or Swim | The pivotal memory – being thrown into a lake. | | W | Water | Recurring images of swimming pools, oceans, and bathtubs – safety vs. danger. |
Su Friedrich’s Sink or Swim (1990) is a seminal 48-minute experimental documentary that explores the trauma and formative experiences of a daughter’s relationship with her emotionally distant father. The film is celebrated for its rigorous formal structure, which serves to mediate its raw, personal subject matter. Narrative and Formal Structure The Alphabetical Framework : The film is divided into 26 short stories , each corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. Reverse Chronology : The chapters proceed in reverse order (Z to A) Su Friedrich - 1990 - Sink or Swim