Dorothy's Shoes

A woman dreams she is Other, but is she really dreaming? We are constantly inhabited by these Others—fantasized, real, encountered, or fled from. Like an inner dialogue, the Voices take their place and vie for the psyche. Intrusive thoughts and unspoken feelings, the dialectic of the self and the unconscious plays out on screen.

Through the evocation of three distinct figures, different stages of a woman's life are revealed. A form of pathology emerges, nourished by fairy tales, naivety, and romanticism. Disappointments loom. Could this be the feminine mystique? The one that traps women in chimerical castles, keeping them prisoners of waking dreams? The grandeur of their imagination is matched only by the betrayals they encounter in the material world. Magic becomes the ultimate bulwark against the harshness of reality, even though they must one day accept that it's time to invent new tales, ones that speak of their own realities, without evasions or childish desires for escape. They know this but prolong their imaginary flight a little longer. And until then, they repeat to themselves: "hold on."

Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk's Artistic Director