Shaping Desire: How Hinge Captured Souvenirs of Love

The authenticity of desire has a way of evaporating the moment a non-actor realizes they’re being watched. Brilliantly, Hinge’s new campaign Souvenirs of Love allows this fragility to be visible instead of correcting it: director Charlotte Chen-Louis and cinematographer Anne Gryczka follow six real couples—three German, three French—without forcing the moment into something performative. We spoke with the two of them about trust, documentaries, and how to film intimacy without over-polishing it.

Charlotte, you have shifted from art direction and second-unit camera to taking the lead as director. How do you think your eye for visual storytelling influenced the narrative or tone of the Hinge campaign?

Charlotte Chen-Louis: In those years, working alongside directors with very different styles shaped my eye more than anything. Observing how they approached scenes helped me understand what I’m drawn to and how I want to work. It also gave me a clearer sense of the process: how to communicate with a team, how each step builds the final image. That made stepping into directing feel more grounded.

I think I naturally gravitate toward a more contemplative, quieter kind of storytelling. That’s just how I look at people and situations, and it’s something I brought with me into the Hinge campaign. I felt trusted with that approach. Even in a short format, there was space to hold onto subtlety and let moments breathe. That shaped the tone of the films and it felt aligned with how I see images.

What was most creatively exciting about translating modern relationships and intimate memories into images for a campaign, compared to your previous work in film?

CCL: What excited me the most was working with real stories. In my films, I often build something a bit more atmospheric or metaphorical, but here the emotional material was already there. These memories are not scripted, and that brought a different kind of energy, something lighter and more instinctive.

I’ve always been drawn to a documentary approach, questioning what’s behind a gesture or a situation before thinking about the image. Who are we looking at? What are we saying? How do we make sure we’re never above the subject? Being able to bring that mindset into a campaign felt really meaningful for me.

I also liked coming on set without knowing exactly where things would go. There was a sense of adapting in real time, catching things as they appeared. Anne made that possible; she has a sharp instinct for these fleeting moments, and she can move fast without losing precision. It allowed us to stay grounded in the people we were filming, while still keeping the aesthetic ambition. That mix was really exciting.

Noemi and Joshua in Souvenirs of Love by Hinge

Hinge is all about authentic connections. Were there any techniques or approaches you used to draw out honest, spontaneous moments from your cast for this project?

CCL: I’m really grateful to have worked with this cast. There was an immediate ease between us (maybe partly because we’re similar in age) and I think it helped create a natural bond.

I wanted to meet each of them before the shoot, not to rehearse but just to get to know them and make sure they felt comfortable enough to be themselves. We also hung out all together so they could connect with one another. I think it created a familiarity that carried into the shoot. What they were sharing on camera was deeply personal, and I really admire their honesty.

For projects like this, openness is essential. I try to communicate clearly about what I’m looking for, without over-explaining. From there, it becomes a dialogue. Keeping the camera fluid and the atmosphere light was important; we wanted to help them forget about the mechanics and stay in their own bubble.

I felt lucky to have their trust, and I think that’s really what made those spontaneous moments come through.

As a new voice on set, how did you balance your own vision with input from collaborators? And where do you see your creative signature evolving after this campaign?

CCL: I think the most important part of filmmaking is having a clear sense of the tone while staying open to what others bring. I arrived with a strong idea of the emotional direction, but I wanted the process to stay light and porous. I work best when ideas circulate and the atmosphere leaves room for genuine moments to surface. In this campaign, that balance came naturally—the team was generous and the collaboration felt instinctive.

Deike and Lorenz in Souvenirs of Love by Hinge

Anne, you’ve worked with houses like YSL, Hermès, and Dior. Which visual instincts or storytelling tools from those luxury campaigns did you bring into the Hinge project? And where did you deliberately take a different direction to match a more everyday, emotional kind of love story?

Anne Gryczka: From the beginning, the idea was to use a very natural and soft light, almost like in a documentary, to support and share the authenticity of their story and their intimacy. Under no circumstances should this light ever feel artificial.

In addition to creating a strong image, one of the most important things for me is that the person I’m capturing always feels comfortable and beautiful in front of the camera—and that doesn’t matter for which brand I’m shooting. For this Hinge campaign, the cast was 6 real French and German couples and not a single participant was used to being in front of a camera. Understandably, some of them felt quite nervous before the shoot.

As a DOP, you are usually asked to make desire look aspirational. When you think about modern relationships, what does desire look like on a less polished level that is also more human? And how did you try to capture that in the Hinge campaign?

AG: In my modest opinion, I think desire and pure love between two humans always stays the same even as our world changes constantly and not always in the best direction. They’re based on a superior and spiritual connection, common energy, tenderness, good dialogue, and the freedom to be who we really are with each other. That’s why I gave space for those feelings and their authenticity to show during the shoot. I tried to capture the couples with respect and with the discreet and respectful eye of my camera. When the couples started to feel more comfortable on the set, Charlotte and I decided to end the shoot with a 15-minute moment on handheld camera. This is how we captured even more intimate and touching close-ups of their faces and bodies. I still feel very thankful for their trust and sincerity.

Kyra and Malte in Souvenirs of Love by Hinge

You have moved between heritage maisons and younger brands. What have luxury clients taught you about framing intimacy on camera? And did any of that thinking shift while working on Hinge’s Souvenirs of Love?

AG: I am lucky to have already worked on many different types of projects and discovered that the focus in the films I created was always very different. When promoting a product for a luxury brand for example, I approached the subject with precision, finding images that would communicate a sense of exclusivity and high quality. But when I work on projects that are more “documentary” in nature and where people are the focus, it’s more about proximity and human feelings—there is more space for imperfection and spontaneity. I always want to build a connection with the people I have in front of my camera and to win their trust, so that they can be themselves as much as possible. In my opinion, that’s how you can achieve and show authenticity at its best.

Working on Hinge’s Souvenirs of Love consolidated all of that. We wanted to show their personal objects in the “museum-like” works of art, beautifully lit to give them the importance they deserved. The interview approach focused on the couples and their honest narratives, so that we could show their emotions and strong connections. Personally, I really enjoyed working on the campaign and the challenge to show all these beautiful angles.