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This video is dedicated to my imaginary brother Kevin who I haven't seen since I was four years old.
(The title Liabilities fades up. The title fades down and a small plane flying across the sky appears.)
Monique:
When I started working on this video, I was working full time as a waitress. Now I have a couple of part-time jobs. One of them is projecting movies at a cinema. When I project, I never get to watch the movie all the way through and because it's so noisy in the booth, I can never hear the soundtrack. Instead of finding this annoying, I've found myself becoming more and more attracted to tiny sections in a film. A person standing in the background, or a series of actions will grab my attention and form a complete story in my mind.
(A woman jumps out of the plane and does a free-fall dive through the air.)
(Cuts to found footage from various "Beach Blanket" films.)
Monique:
I was named Monique after a character that appeared in a late night television movie that my parents happened to be watching one night when my mother was pregnant. It was a beach blanket film from the sixties. Neither of my parents speaks French, but they thought that the name sounded elegant, and maybe a little bit exotic, so they decided to name me after that character.
(Anne walks into the spotlight and faces an imaginary audience.)
Monique:
I first met Anne about two years ago. She gave a talk at the school I was attending at that time. I remember she walked on to the stage in a very theatrical way, but her talk was incredibly boring. She told a few personal stories and then showed some family slides… (pauses) I don't know, half the audience left before she was finished, and I was one of the few people that stayed. I found out a little while ago that Anne is known for walking into schools and giving lectures that she hasn't been invited to give.
(Monique is seated in a chair and facing the camera. She speaks to the camera, but never looks directly at the lens.)
Monique:
About a year ago, I stopped getting Anne's mail for about two months, and I started to get a little worried because she usually sends me things so regularly. Then I got this post card from England saying that she was there traveling, but it was mailed from Montréal. Two weeks ago she mailed me this video that she had made on her twenty-fifth birthday. Anne usually sends me a tape every year on her birthday.
(Cuts to a television that is in the same room as Monique. Anne's image is on the monitor.)
Anne:
Hello, Hi... I'm Anne Russell and I'm making this tape on the 17th day of March 1992. It's my twenty-fifth birthday... It's also Saint Patrick's day... Actually, green has always been one of my least favorite colours. I read somewhere once that my last name means "red" so I suppose it must seem like some kind of joke that I was born on this day. (She pauses a second.) I don't mind really, if it's your birthday you don't have much choice.
Copies of this tape are being sent to my grandmother, Jennifer Williams, my cousin Rachel, my other cousin Sarah, to Stephen, Naresh and also to Monique. (smiles) When you grow up knowing that your parents might have named you something else, you spend a lot of time wondering what you might have been like with that name... I think I always knew though that one day I'd meet this person named Monique and thank god that my parents had named me Anne. (the tape stops)
(Cuts to Monique. She has pressed pause.)
Monique:
Anne told me that before she was born her parents had this argument about what to name her. Her mother wanted to name her Anne and her father wanted to name her Monique. They fought about it for months. Unfortunately, her father was killed in a freak car accident about a month before she was born, and that made it possible for her mother to end up naming her Anne. (Monique starts the tape again)
(Cuts back to Anne speaking on the video monitor.)
Anne:
I like to read books that list different names for babies and give their meanings. I found this book a little while ago that listed names and the types of impressions those names might give you. Anne was listed as "white, middle-class."
I was named "Anne" after my mother's sister. I think she was actually somewhat disappointed that my grandparents had named her "Anne." After she got married, she moved to the States and she started to call herself Anne-Marie. I only ever met her once and that was at a family reunion. I remember she was wearing this bright pink pantsuit with matching pink nails. I think it was good that she didn't live near us, because no one ever said I was a lot like my Aunt.
(The video monitor fades to black.)
(Cuts to a basement. Monique is going through a pile of boxes. She has pulled one out and is looking through it. She seems to be addressing someone, but she isn't looking at the camera lens.)
Monique:
Um, this is Anne's box, and it's full of everything she's sent me since she put me on her mailing list. It has some cards, letters, some short stories, photographs, things she clipped out and sent me, I'm not sure why... pictures, some books, some more short stories...
This is a book she sent me. It's called the World Book of Russells. She said she wrote it, I don't know... It's a name book, so it lists the names and addresses of all the people with the last name Russell in the entire world. She went through it and highlighted every Anne.
(Monique pulls out a photo) This is a photograph of me dressed up as Anne. I think she was pretty pissed off about that.
And this is another book she sent me. It's called Butterfly, and it's by Katherine Harvey. Anne swears that Katherine Harvey is her pseudonym, and that she wrote this book. I don't know... It's a romance novel. Anne mostly writes on three topics, she writes about her travels, about different scientific discoveries that she's made, and then she also does some romance writing...
(Cuts back to Monique who is sitting in her chair in the same room again.)
Monique:
Anne has alopecia, she's almost completely bald. She's pretty sensitive about it and she doesn't really like me to tell anyone. When she was thirteen she had her first period and then about a month later all her hair started to fall out. I think it's some sort of hormonal disorder and there's no cure for it. She talks about all these places that she's been to, but because of the wig, she's terrified of the wind and doesn't like to go outside. She tries to stay indoors as much as possible. I don't think she's ever really been anywhere. I think she mostly gets her information from television travelogues and coffee table magazines about exotic places.
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