Le fantôme dans la machine

The problem is, he died in a fire in 1997. Is it a hallucination? A tasteless stunt? Are they trying to rattle her for the sake of “good TV”? But then her brother appears to her again in other unlikely places, to catch up, pick up the conversation where they left off, and tease her just like he used to. These encounters give Rousse a glimpse of the life she might have had if her brother had survived the tragedy, or, rather, the many versions of lives unlived that unfold in parallel universes. These discoveries come with unsettling questions: would she be willing to give up the life she has now to keep her beloved brother alive and by her side? 

Directed by Alexia Bürger (Les Hardings, Les filles du Saint Laurent, Camera obscura), who has shared a bond since childhood and a rich artistic partnership with author Fanny Britt (Bienveillance, Hurlevents, Classique(s)), this “auto-science-fiction” blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality, exploring the ways in which the dead continue to haunt the living. Between intimate confession and dramatic invention, both autobiographical and pure fabulation, this play about the power of imagination explores how writing and the stage are a chance to re-enact a formative tragedy of a life. With bittersweet irony, Britt and Bürger draw us into a world where memory and theatrical illusion intertwine to explore the stories we choose to believe.