Mice en Scene: Groundhog Day

Day 150. Phil wakes up and realizes that he’s still in the same position – as he examines the noises around him. Time loop to sit The hotel where he is staying is no longer a secret. Neither are the residents of Punxsutawney, the hamlet where he has lived every day for months now. That Phil-van-the-garage at 9am every morning. For example, to go to the toilet, there will be exactly 16’38 seconds. Then with a broad smile, ‘Now, it’s over’, steps out again. Or how Mary, the old baker’s daughter, delivers free pastries to Joe and Diane’s children every day. They are very tight with money, but prefer to gamble rather than spend their money on food. 2312 He knows something about the citizens. Bill is Omniscient Being, a god in shabby clothes, a man who doesn’t know what wood to make arrows from. He wants to get out of the time loop, but doesn’t know how.

After breakfast – again porridge with scrambled eggs, because the rest is tasteless – he prepares to make a statement, which he has already done 150 times. In the same way, ‘Goodbye Rita’, ‘Goodbye Larry’, ‘Nam?’, … “Dear viewers, it’s Groundhog Day again, blah blah blah…” Bill makes himself. For the 150th time Again quickly. Much to Rita and Larry’s chagrin, they accuse him of a lack of professionalism and would rather see his grumpy head than come. As Phil begins his daily tasks – today he wants to set fire to the marshmallow factory, which looks like a festive day – he catches something out of the corner of his eye that he hadn’t noticed before. A man actually waves at him. He is carrying a flag with the words ‘Lost’ in his hand.

Phil doesn’t even know where he is. “Who is he? What is he doing in my village?!” He wonders aloud. And how on earth can something new happen after 150 days? He approaches the busy man with his flag. When Bill approaches, he thinks he recognizes the man. The man and him. Then suddenly he gets the shock of his life. The man appears. The spitting image to him. Bill, completely shattered by the encounter, wants to talk to the man, but he beats him up. “Hi, Bill, I’m Phil. I know it is very confusing, but I have been looking for you for 150 days. I’m stuck in a time loop, and you’re the only one who can help me.” To which Phil-the-latest-hell says he doesn’t know what it’s like, and wants to get stuck in this hole and go home. Phil – let’s call him the Big One – replies bluntly: “I’m better than you. Having been here long enough, I have the right to escape this time loop. I suggest you take your place. Phil-the-recent doesn’t want to know about it. Even if he doesn’t know how to break the time loop, surely he’s not going to trade places with Phil-the-elder? Out of the loop. He suspects that Bill-the-Elder knows what to do to escape, but to do so he must take on the identity of Bill-the-Recent. Bill-the-Elder isn’t going to stop there (“I’ve been stuck here for ten years!”). Hurling the flagpole against Bill-the-latest’s head at breakneck speed Aindar, after which the latter – with a severe head injury – falls down and loses consciousness.

As he regains consciousness, Bill-the-Elder stands over him. As Bill-the-Recent sits down, he suddenly notices that they are there, besides Bill-the-Elder. Still other Phils walk around They all wear the same clothes. A little buzzy, a little dated. One has a beard, the other a moustache. One is long hair, the other is matted or brittle. Phil-the-latest all the chaos. Until a Bill approaches him (Bill-de-Morcer, judging by his shirt). “Wow, are you new? Welcome to Bill-a-delphia”, he laughs. “As you can see, you’re not the only one here Phil, and you probably won’t be the last. Every year there’s a new Bill here, always with the same story. Most of us are already resigned to being stuck here forever. Meanwhile, we all think we’re comfortable like this. And hey. , the man’s head. It’s not so bad here, you should see John Malkovich!”

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