In his famous book Psychoanalysis of Fairy Tales, Bruno Bettelheim argues that fairy tales act like a magic mirror. The internal conflicts inherent to growing old are reflected to the child so that he/she becomes familiar with the pressures of his/her unconscious while helping him/her to cope with them. Sibling rivalries, Oedipal dilemmas, individuation, the loss of childhood dependence; the child's unconscious is the scene of great torments whose strength adults seem to remember little. This short video by Mréjen makes us smile at first, but under the choppy and imprecise narratives of the little ones, this vaguely familiar world reappears, filled with threatening shadows, spells and magic potions. But the end of the tale looks bright, now that the little girls are determined to rewrite their roles!

Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk's Artistic Director