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Robert Lepage and Pedro Pires direct Triptych. Photo: eOne Films. |
“Possible Words” appropriately begins with an archival print
(!) of Lepage’s feature directorial debut The
Confessional, which stars Kristin Scott Thomas and scored four 1995 Genies
including Best Picture. Lepage will be on hand to discuss several of his films
including The Confessional, Triptych, and one of my favourites, Possible Worlds. The opportunity to hear
Lepage discuss his work sounds like a must for any Canadian film fan, for the
director’s background in both film and theatre should make for an especially
engaging conversation for anyone interested in the art of adaptation. Lepage’s
films frequently adapt stage drama for the screen and they offer unique dynamics
in the stage-to-screen process—Possible
Worlds in particular, as the Tilda Swinton-fuelled take on John Mighton’s
play is breathtakingly brainy. Triptych,
on the other hand, might be the culmination of Lepage’s work as a great adapter
since it sees him transform his own nine-hour stage play into a ninety-minute
film. Lepage’s own philosophy of looking at texts anew seems like a fitting
choice for a retrospective series. Someone please attend these screenings in my
absence!
The screenings for “Robert Lepage: Possible Worlds” are as
follows:
*Screenings with Lepage in person!
*Le Confessionnal
1995 | 100 min. | French with English subtitles | 35mm
Thursday, March 27 at 6:30 p.m.
-Lepage's feature film debut is a time-tripping mystery
centered on the filming of Hitchcock's I
Confess in Quebec City in 1952.
-Canada’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film
in the 1995 Oscar race.
*Triptych (Triptyque)
dirs. Robert Lepage and Pedro Pires | 2013 | 90 min. | French,
English, German with English subtitles | Digital
Friday, March 28 at at 6:30 p.m
-Lepage's most recent feature (based on his celebrated,
nine-hour theatre work Lipsynch)
is an elegant, thought-provoking and gorgeously designed meditation on the many
modes of human communication.
*The Metropolitan Opera HD Live: Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust
dir. Barbara Willis Sweete | USA | 2008 | 142 min. | French
with English subtitles | Digital
Saturday, March 29 at 12 p.m.
This live recording of Lepage's 2008 mounting of La
Damnation de Faust with New York's Metropolitan Opera captures the
stunningly ambitious, ultra-cinematic sensibility that the director brought to
Berlioz's four-part rendering of the Goethe classic.
Le Polygraphe
1996 | 91 min. | French with English subtitles | 35mm
Saturday, March 29 at 3:45 p.m.
A murder case becomes the locus for several parallel
searches (via filmmaking, performance, academic research, political action, and
sexual exploration) for an ever elusive truth, in Lepage's adaptation of his
eponymous stage work.
-Nominated for 9 Genies including Best Picture, Best
Director, and Best Actress (Marie Brassard)
[Trailer not available.]
[Trailer not available.]
*Possible Worlds
2000 | 93 min. | English | 35mm
Saturday, March 29 at 7
p.m.
Lepage adapted John Mighton's Governor General's
Award-winning play for his first English-language feature, about a
dimension-hopping hero (Tom McCamus) who pursues the love of his life (Tilda
Swinton) through the many parallel versions of his existence.
-Nominated for 6 Genies including Best Picture, Best
Director, and Best Actress (Tilda Swinton).
*Wagner's Dream
dir. Susan Froemke | USA | 2012 | 115 min. | Digital
Sunday, March 30 at 12:30 p.m
Documentarian Susan Froemke captures the backstage drama and
unprecedented logistical challenges involved in mounting Lepage's monumental
staging of Wagner's Ring cycle at New York's Metropolitan Opera in
2012.
Nô
1998 | 83 min. | 14A | French with English subtitles |
35mm
Sunday, March 30 at 3:45 p.m.
In Lepage's structurally complex yet surprisingly
lighthearted political farce, a Québécoise actress in Japan is faced with an
important personal choice while her separatist boyfriend tries to hide from the
cops during the 1970 FLQ crisis.
[Trailer not available.]
[Trailer not available.]
The Far Side of the Moon (La Face cachée de la lune)
Tuesday, April 1 at 9 p.m.
2003 | 105 min. | PG | French with English subtitles | 35mm
Lepage directs and stars in this dazzlingly imaginative
adaptation of his acclaimed, semi-autobiographical stage play.
-Nominated for 4 Genies including Best Picture. Winner of
Best Adapted Screenplay.
-Canada’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film
in the 2004 Oscar race.
“Robert Lepage:
Possible Worlds” runs March 27 – April 1.
Please visit www.tiff.net for more information.