In the image of Nora Efron’s best work, the short film Intertwined is a quirky, yet romantic story, and following tropes from the prompted director, the two love interests start as enemies. The main characters, Monroe and Frankie, couldn’t be more different. Monroe is an intelligent, closed-off outcast, while Frankie is a preppy, popular cheerleader. The two were childhood best friends, with Marcy -- a bubbly ditz -- completing their trio. Three years ago, when Marcy went to live with her grandmother in England, the friendship between Monroe and Frankie fell apart. From freshman year to the summer before their senior year, their lifelong friendship became years of hostility. However, when Marcy returns to their hometown, the two girls are forced to put aside their anger and return to their childhood trio, but not without resistance.

Monroe and Frankie pick up Marcy from the airport, where she is ecstatic to see them. Marcy’s ignorance and bliss allow her to completely ignore the tension between her two best friends, who are clearly not happy to be in each other’s presence. The trio goes to pick up food and eventually ends up at a park where they catch up on the past three years apart. During this conversation, Marcy points out how Frankie isn’t wearing the friendship bracelet that Monroe made her. Frankie plays it off by saying that she lost it. Marcy begins to ask about a boy at their school. This puts the group on the subject of crushes, which is when Marcy, in her oblivious nature, reveals that Monroe told her she had a crush on Frankie before she left for England.

Frankie is clearly shocked by this, but Monroe changes the subject; however, Frankie manages to bring it back up when Marcy leaves the two of them alone. In their conversation, which turns into almost an interrogation between the two, their rivalry becomes more fleshed out. Monroe points out Frankie’s abandonment of her in high school, which Frankie blames on her former friend. By the end of their argument, the two seem considerably less tense.

Monroe drives Marcy home, and when she arrives at Frankie’s house to drop her off, Frankie asks her to wait. Monroe does, and Frankie brings out her friendship bracelet, which she had previously said she had lost. She gives it to Monroe, and Monroe puts it back on her wrist. Their hands intertwine.

Monroe and Marcy are seen wearing friendship bracelets throughout the film, and Frankie’s bracelet is shown at the end; each bracelet has the name of the character on it, along with colors that represent her. All three of the colors are secondary colors, which symbolizes how all three girls decided that their friendships were secondary to the rest of their lives. Monroe’s color is orange, which symbolizes independence. Orange is also known to be a sign of danger or a warning, which symbolizes Monroe’s closed-off nature, as well as the way she has pushed Frankie out of her life. Frankie’s color is purple -- this symbolizes femininity, vanity, and royalty, which shows Frankie’s obsession with her appearance as well as her status. It also symbolizes immaturity, which is a trait that Frankie shows throughout the film, specifically during her interactions with Monroe. Lastly, Marcy’s color is green, which is associated with safety, childishness, and energy. With all three of them back together, they blend, which shows why Marcy’s return is so vital to their relationship.

Another trope in this film is the focus on hands, which are shown in the beginning and the end. This is taken from Nora Ephron, specifically Sleepless in Seattle, where the holding of hands is a major plot point to the romance of the two. So, with the focus on both hands and bracelets, the name intertwined seemed relevant as well as telling to the story.