Triptyque

Triptyque turns Robert Lepage’s multi-media stage marathon ‘Lipsynch’ into a cinematic meditation on the influence of language and voice(s) on the destinies of three people. In Québec, Michelle leaves a psychiatric clinic and returns to her work in an antiquarian bookstore which subsequently becomes a space for her inner voices. In London, a German neurologist meets Michelle’s sister, Marie, a jazz singer whose ability to speak is jeopardised by a brain tumour. Marie is one of Thomas’ last patients. He is suffering from a hand tremor – the result of a taxing marriage. Back home in Montreal, Marie starts a new life together with Thomas. With the aid of dubbing actors and Super-8 footage of her late father, she begins obsessively to retrieve her forgotten memory of his voice. Lepage’s and Pires’ blend of powerful visual fantasies and impressive close-ups succeed in creating a compelling cinematic work that is full of charm and is as puzzling as the contours of the human brain they would appear to see in Michelangelo’s images of creation in the Sistine Chapel.