Lutesha
Demi
Overview
Bara wants to get assurance about his relationship with Demi (25), but Demi can’t provide it because she is afraid of commitment. The ups and downs of this relationship are getting more complex as Demi comes and goes as she pleases while Bara continues to keep his high expectations. As a writer, Bara reflects on his chaotic relationship in a book called Eminus Dolore. Rendezvous, togetherness, and farewell, all framed in fragments of memory. It is a story about a person trying to get the whole picture of his past and seeking closure. And it’s about someone who has fallen many times and tried to rise above all the trauma.
Cast
10 people
Reviews
4 min readThe Art of Letting Go, Badly
I’ve been thinking about Guide to Prepare for Separation for days, not because it’s a masterpiece, but because it’s so stubbornly, frustratingly human. There’s something painfully familiar about Bara and Demi’s dance of need and avoidance—like watching two people argue in a language they both pretend to understand. Adriyanto Dewo’s film doesn’t just depict a breakup; it dissects the messy, humiliating process of realizing you’re already alone, even when you’re still holding on.
The film’s greatest strength is its refusal to romanticize separation. This isn’t a story of catharsis or growth, but of stagnation. Bara (Daffa Wardhana) clings to his "high expectations" like a life raft, while Demi (Lutesha) drifts in and out of his life with the infuriating unpredictability of a summer storm.
Their relationship isn’t just failing—it’s rotting, and the film lingers in that decay with an almost clinical detachment. There’s no grand confrontation, no tearful confession. Just the slow, inevitable unraveling of two people who never really knew how to love each other in the first place.
Dewo’s direction is quiet, almost ascetic. The camera doesn’t judge, but it doesn’t comfort either. Scenes unfold in long takes, the silence between Bara and Demi stretching like a taut wire.
When they do speak, their words are often banal—small talk masking the chasm between them. It’s a technique that mirrors real-life breakups, where the most devastating moments aren’t the dramatic fights but the quiet, mundane ones: the way Bara’s fingers twitch when Demi cancels plans, or how Demi’s smile doesn’t reach her eyes when she says, "I’ll call you later."
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsHer first romance, his first adult role
Lutesha had already done horror, action-comedy, and the Citra-winning Photocopier when Relate Films asked her to play Demi. Liputan6 noted it was her first romance. Daffa Wardhana, coming off Married with Senior and Can You Hear Me?, said it was the first time he had to play serious and adult. Their movie, Guide to Prepare for Separation, or Panduan Mempersiapkan Perpisahan, went up on Bioskop Online on Feb. 24, 2023. latestnetflix.com's read is that IDN Times later dated the Netflix drop to March 15, 2024.
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The source is Arman Dhani's Mojok book Eminus Dolere, which he spent about ten years writing. In the film, Bara is a writer who turns the relationship into that book. Demi, 25, will not give him a status. IDN Times walks the meet-cute. They find each other at an art gallery in Yogyakarta, go long-distance, stay comfortable, and then Bara asks for a future Demi will not promise. Adriyanto Dewo, who directed Tabula Rasa and One Night Stand, also wrote the screenplay with Nara Nugroho. Arman is on the writing line too. ,
Daffa put the job in three beats. "When I had to play Bara, I tried to show his serious side chasing certainty with Demi. In the end Bara goes through three phases of life, meeting, being together, and separating from Demi." Lutesha stayed in Demi's head with a playlist she ran between setups. "While Daffa works to show Bara's adult side, I keep Demi's romantic mood. I made a playlist and I listen between setups so I stay in character."
Jogja in two palettes
Dewo told Liputan6 this was the second Relate Films and Bioskop Online collaboration. They sat with Nara and cooked the book until it became a film. Arman skipped the CGV FX Sudirman press screening on release day and sent a video. He was moved that people felt the story, and told viewers to bring tissues. Producer Perlita Desiani and Visinema's Ajeng Parameswari were in the room. Wikipedia lists Lie Indra Prakasa on music, Fandy Christian as Dimas, Aksara Dena as Andy, and Brilliana Desy Dwinawati as Demi's mother. Runtime is 66 minutes. ,
IDN Times describes the color trick. Present day is black and white. The past is in color. Bara's line in the film is that his days had color when he was with Demi. That reverses the usual flashback code. The same piece flags the Yogyakarta locations and the memory-fragment structure. Bara keeps expecting a whole picture. Demi keeps leaving. There is no sourced off-camera feud between the leads, despite what thinner copy has implied. The interesting production fact is smaller. A first-time romance lead. A first-time adult lead. A ten-year book. A director who painted the present grey on purpose.
Netflix picking the title a year later is how a paid Bioskop Online original became a U.S. catalog row. Presale tickets on the Indonesian platform were cheap, 10,000 rupiah in the February 2023 push. Suara and Liputan6 both pushed the official trailer in early February. Fandy Christian and Aksara Dena were billed as support around two people who cannot agree on a future. TMDB still files the original title Panduan Mempersiapkan Perpisahan under drama and romance, 1 hour 6 minutes, Indonesia, Feb. 24, 2023. , ,
If you came looking for a messy set, the interviews point somewhere else. Lutesha treating romance like a new genre. Daffa treating seriousness like a stunt. Dewo treating a Mojok bestseller as a second date with Bioskop Online. Arman, who wrote the heartbreak for a decade, asking the audience to keep tissues nearby.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.