The case of the missing brain

>> Robert Lepage on serious cinema, being bi and his latest, Possible Worlds

by MATTHEW HAYS

Robert Lepage makes some rather surreal statements as he chats about his latest feature, Possible Worlds. "I've never taken filmmaking that seriously," he says. "My attitude has always driven some a bit crazy... I have to be honest, though. While I'm very interested in it, for me, it's a hobby."

This, despite Lepage's international rep as an iconoclast and true pro, and his home-turf rep, where he's viewed as one of Quebec's favourite cultural sons. But Lepage says once he saw a production of John Mighton's play of the same name, he was sold on translating the work to the big screen and wanted to "get serious." "Mighton is quite brilliant," Lepage gushes.

Apparently, Mighton has a quirky inspirational sense as well. Possible Worlds opens with a police investigation into a mysterious murder scene: protagonist Tom McCamus has been found dead, and his brain is missing. The cops must try and figure out who did McCamus in--and who did away with his brain and where the organ ended up. The film then takes us on a series of speculative narratives, each involving a different potential chain of events involving McCamus and his romantic interest (played with a good deal of cool finesse by Tilda Swinton).

Though his fourth feature, Possible Worlds does represent a debut of sorts for Lepage. This is his first English-language movie. "There is something about the sensitivity of working in English that is a bit alien to me, but in a good way. The English language is very concise--words are so short--the French and German languages are far more wordy."

Lepage grew up in a perfectly bilingual environment, with his older siblings brought up in English schools and his younger siblings brought up in French schools, "So I'm a bi," he says. But despite his straddling of the Two Solitudes, Lepage has become a potent symbol of the modern Quebec sovereignist--worldly, but still committed to an independent Quebec.

Language politics have often followed the artist around, like it or not. He raised some eyebrows when his first feature, Le Confessionnal, opened the Toronto Film Fest and not the Montreal World Film Fest, just a few weeks before the Referendum (one which Lepage had urged Quebecers to vote Yes in). And '98's No, with its rather humorous treatment of the '70 October Crisis, divided critics along linguistic lines, receiving widespread scorn among Quebec francophones while winning over anglos, picking up an award at the Toronto International Film Fest.

And finally, yet more surrealism from Lepage. He cites Celine Dion as his linguistic heroine, someone who works in both English and French but remains unapologetically quebecoise.

"At last, someone has the courage to do that... And then Denys Arcand can make a film in English and I can do a film in English if I want to, and no one will say a word about it." :

Possible Worlds closes the New Film and Media Festival on Sunday, Oct. 22