Triptyque

TRIPTYCH

Michelle?

Michelle?

Ready?

Yes.

I just have to pack a few things.

Before I drive you home, we'll stop to pick up some things for tonight.

What would you like to eat?

I don't know.

Pasta? Meat?

Pasta would be good.

Could we also stop to pick up some lipstick?

I must be pretty pale.

There are no mirrors here.

I think I'll put those in the bag.

I don't know if I'll have enough space for everything, though.

Give me the books. I'll put them in the suitcase.

Good morning, Mrs. Lavallée.

Good morning.

- How are you feeling this morning? - Good, good. Very good.

I feel calm and rested.

We will carry on with the same drugs.

Three times daily with your meals.

Two tablets each time.

Two is a lot.

You may feel weary with the change of environment,

but you will get better within a few days.

I also prescribed an antidepressant. Take it.

Thank you.

Good luck.

May I speak to you for a moment?

Honestly, I'm not sure she's ready to leave...

but the system is overloaded, so...

make sure she takes her pills.

- Okay, goodbye, Doctor. - Goodbye.

Where's your prescription?

In the bag.

You have to keep it in your hand.

We'll stop at the drugstore.

Where exactly is it?

Must be in the bottom.

- Michelle... - It was there.

Without the prescription, we can't leave.

We'll stay here until we find it.

Maybe it fell under the bed.

Good.

I spoke with the bookshop owner.

She agreed to take you back part-time.

Ah, that's good.

Your sister, Marie, called.

If she can get some time off work,

she'll come visit you next week.

Do you have anything on the Total Refusal manifesto?

Yes...

I have plenty of stuff on Total Refusal.

- What are you looking for? - It's for a school project.

The teacher told us to do it on Total Refusal.

It's just that there are 16 signatories.

They're painters, sculptors, choreographers, poets.

- Charles Gauvreau. - Claude Gauvreau.

There were two of them: Pierre and Claude.

Claude was the writer.

I also have his entire works.

You're lucky. I rarely have them.

Here, take a seat.

There's plenty of light.

- Do you have Internet? - No. No Internet here.

- What about coffee? - No, no coffee either.

Excuse me.

I'm looking for this book.

Conscience et action: 25 ans d'engagement féministe par l'image.

- It's by Danielle Morency. - Danielle Morency, the filmmaker?

Yes, she mostly makes documentaries.

No, sorry. I don't have it right now.

If you're not in a rush, I could try to find it for you.

Thanks. Do you have anything else on feminism?

Absolutely. Of course.

Do you have a photocopier?

No.

That's in the Lower Town.

This is the Upper Town.

You have to head down.

Here, I'll show you.

He smoked some good stuff.

He was schizophrenic.

But, "where there is art, there is no madness."

He was quite extraordinary.

He wrote so freely.

He fought against the dictatorship of words,

as if words held thoughts captive.

He even made up his own language, the "explorean" language.

Can you read this?

"My Olivine My Ragamoosh

"I stoptiskateez you

"on the sillybead slowboil

"I tearacramulche your epaulette

"I roughamumple your reepanappy

"I crouscouz you

"I galdapple you

"Oh, Lunatophina, I bend down

"and cramble you

"Deplepodated string-nettle

"I agributt your rusplette

"And in the desert of markmasons

your breasts burden the silence."

Quite erotic, isn't it?

How much is it?

It's quite expensive because I rarely have it on hand.

It goes for $50.

50 bucks?

But because you're a student, I'll let it go for $35.

No, it's all right. I've got what I need. Thanks.

- This is Thomas. - Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

Thomas is in Montreal for a medical convention,

but I really wanted him to see Quebec City.

Quebec is very beautiful.

- Michelle works in a bookshop. - Really?

Oh, yes. She picks out the books. She sorts them.

She's really great at what she does.

It's a second-hand bookshop.

Michelle, I brought you a little something.

It's no big deal, really.

I hope you'll like it.

She keeps bringing me gifts.

Do you like it?

It's really beautiful, Marie.

It's a...

a journal.

- You write? - I used to write a lot.

But I stopped when I got hospitalized.

Thank you very much, Marie.

Oh, it's my pleasure.

We have a dinner later on,

but do you have anything to munch on?

Anything at all? Chips, pretzels?

Well, I...

I don't have any potato chips or anything like that.

Maybe we could make sandwiches?

Don't bother. I'll run over to the corner store.

Have you been in Montreal for long?

For a week.

For conferences?

No, I'm part of the audience.

Is the convention for neurologists?

Surgeons?

I'm not a surgeon anymore.

My right hand shakes too much.

So, what do you do now?

I still work on the brain,

but more with medication and psychotherapy.

At the Montreal convention, they're promoting

a new treatment program for mental illnesses.

Fewer drugs, but better ones.

Yes.

Stronger drugs, but with fewer side effects.

Fewer sleeping problems, less weight gain.

- More desire. - Yes.

An easier time expressing oneself,

communicating with others,

crying even.

- Less thirsty, right? - Exactly.

I guess that's why you came here with Marie,

to ask me to participate in a new program?

I will never take part in another one of those trials.

I want to move on. There must be another way.

Marie prompted you to come here for this, right?

She is so eager to help me.

She brings me all kind of junk.

I have a cupboard full of herbal teas and vitamins.

She's brought me to so many doctors and therapists.

She wants me to take up writing again!

She offers me beautiful journals.

There must be at least a dozen of them in my desk.

But I can't fill them!

After stuffing myself full of drugs and having trouble with basic tasks,

I can't write anything that makes sense.

You must have something to say when you pick up a pen.

Something more than delirium.

I'm afraid to stain those journals.

I know she's doing all that to help me.

It's all out of love.

The love of a sister.

So that's why she's brought you here?

So I can play guinea pig again?

No.

We've come to tell you that...

we're getting married.

You're not going to get that?

It must be Marie.

Will I be paralyzed?

You won't be paralyzed.

What does aphasic mean?

It means that you will temporarily lose your speech.

I can't... I'm a singer.

I know. I understand your anxiety.

Excuse me.

Ada, I'm in the middle of a consultation.

I can't talk right now! I will call you later.

When will you be going back to Montreal?