Possible Worlds

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Canada • 2000 • 93m •

• Directed by: Robert Lepage. • Starring: Tilda Swinton, Tom McCamus, Sean McCann, Gabriel Gascon, Rick Miller, Griffith Brewer, Daniel Brooks, Steve Adams, Russell Yuen, Mariah Inger, Laurent Imbault, Lisa Bronwyn Moore, Eric Hoziel..

George and Joyce lead parallel lives in alternate worlds. In each of those lives, George embarks on a relationship with Joyce, sometimes more successfully than others. George also becomes increasingly aware of his alternate lives, not only of Joyce in each of them, but what he carries of himself between each of those lives. In one of those lives, he is the most recent homicide victim in a rash of B&E's. In his case, he is the first victim where nothing of monetary value has been stolen, but only his brain removed from his skull and taken from the crime scene. The lead police investigators, Inspector Berkley and Detective Williams, although sometimes at odds with each other, eventually come to the conclusion that the murder has something to do with brain research, and that George may have been targeted rather than a random victim.

Review:

THE FILM. If you love pure cinema that doesn't necessarily need even a story, this is one for the books. Gorgeous scenery, lovingly filmed. The photography was measured to include natural structure of beauty and form, including the shoreline, the rock formations, the beach house, and even the police station. I found myself enamored of the set design, even when the story was quite interesting! THE STORY. Twilight Zone weirdness permeates, and Rod Serling would not be out of place narrating. Dimensional, or alternative universe, jumping is the pretext for deeper probing. First, what has the serial killing to do with it? This should be an easy guess for fantasy film cinephiles. Second, what has the rat brain to do with it? This is, to be fair, an apt metaphor. OK, but what about Wittgenstein? THE PHILOSOPHY. Actress Tilda Swinton seems to enjoy the deep end of the pool, with unending credits of philosophy in her filmography, including Francis Bacon, Vanilla Sky, and.. Wittgenstein. And actor Tom McCamus has a philosopher inserted into his last name. So we know the philosophy herein is deliberate. What is this philosophy? Relative existence.

Do we exist or do we not? Can we prove it? Do possibilities exist or are they "never-been" wisps? Are we someone's or something's lab experiment? Is there God? The answers to such questions are somewhat less obvious than you might think. Yet, if we are only experiments, or dreams, someone or something has created that experiment or dream. Therefore, a creator. Therefore, an existence. As for possibilities, both in reality and in this film, these are out of our control anyway, except for decisions we make at any given time.

Some might find the ending of this film to be "too easy." I find it embracing and satisfying. Blame writers Mighton and LePage if you disagree. I especially liked when George talks about fossils, evidence of the past. Are they evidence, or merely part of the construct? Shells within shells.

MUSIC. I cannot leave you without telling you how beautiful is the soundtrack, especially Peter Gabriel's haunting "The Nest." Well after the film was over, I was transfixed so much of the music that I merely kept staring ahead, awaiting more.

Review by gengar843 from the Internet Movie Database.

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