Two actors play the same lead in this sometimes self-indulgent but ingenious story of a woman’s identity crisis following the death of her mother
Why have one
Actor play your lead character when you could have two? That’s the central conceit of this distinctive Canadian indie, written by the actors in question, Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, and adapted from their stage play. They are both Cassandra, a disorganised woman in
Toronto thrown into crisis by the death of her mother. Unlike movies with similar conceits – Luis Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire, for example, where two actors alternated in a role – Mouthpiece keeps both
Women on screen at all times. As a reflection of a fractured mental state, it’s an effective device, although the relationship is not sharply defined. Sometimes they are like best
Friends or sisters, in playful internal dialogue; others they are in good cop/bad cop opposition, or even conflict. Sometimes their movements are identical (they trip over their scarves in synch, for example); at others they appear to be autonomous. The comic potential of the setup is largely sidestepped although a highlight is a scene where one Cassandra chimes in with distracting criticisms while her other self is trying to have sex with an old flame.