Elephant Song

A doctor disappears from a psychiatric hospital. Nobody knows what happened. Dr Green, who runs the hospital, decides to talk with a patient: Michael has been there for years, was the missing doctor's patient and may have seen him that day. The conversation begins. Michael does not answer the questions; he tells his own story, changes the subject, sets conditions and asks the doctor questions about himself. A nurse says the meeting should not be allowed. It goes on. Charles Binamé directs. Xavier Dolan plays Michael, Bruce Greenwood plays Dr Green and Carrie-Anne Moss the nurse. The source is Nicolas Billon's play. The structure is close to theatre; the narrative takes place largely in one room between two people. The matter it builds is who is steering whom; while the doctor tries to get information the patient sets the rules of the conversation. Xavier Dolan was known as a director and appears here as an actor. The narrative gives information by degrees; it opens the past in short flashbacks whose truth is uncertain. It criticises the institution as well; records, protocols and the director's personal concerns are all in play. Its limit is form; the stage origin is plain and the narrative stays visually narrow. Who it is for: viewers who like two hander acting work and psychological drama. Who it is not for: little happens, the talk is dense, and the ending is contested.