Possible Worlds

With Possible Worlds, director Robert Lepage once again displays considerable visual prowess by creating a beautifully cold world of glass, steel, and water to house playwright John Mighton's story of the same relationship being played out in countless parallel realities. The film is exquisitely crafted and incredibly slow, which gives it an appropriately eerie dreamlike quality and makes it quite tempting to just sit back and languish in the sheer beauty of Lepage's imagery. Unfortunately, the slow pace also belies some of the humour and intelligence inherent in the script, which diminishes the impact of its weightier ideas on science and love. The film also fails to create the suspense necessary to meaningfully sustain the parallel plot that has police officers trying to solve a mystery involving stolen brains. Tom McCamus gives an amazingly subtle and haunted performance as a man struggling with his awareness of his constantly changing reality and Tilda Swinton, playing the elusive love interest, does a credible job at shifting characters through each passing world.