Logline
Can friendship survive when Heaven, Earth & Hell collide?
Three thirty-something London women discover that, while friendship can be beyond tricky, it’s ultimately worth it.
Overview
TRIPTYCH is an honest portrayal of horizontal and vertical relationships among London thirtysomethings.
The three central characters are old enough to know better, and are at the point of a second “coming of age”, when they realise that, if they don’t break the patterns of behaviour that saw them through their 20s, they will keep making the same pitiful mistakes for eternity.
The ‘triptych’ of the title is a mural on the wall of a studio flat, representing the three school friends in happier days, when they were still managing to hold disillusionment at bay. It hangs there to remind them, and haunt them, of who they once wanted to be. And like medieval triptychs, the three panels of our mural represent Heaven, Earth and Hell, realms that our leading protagonists subtly symbolize throughout the story.
The primary theme is friendship, exploring the Jungian maxim that “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” Trixie, Maxine and Alexa transform each other in ways they barely begin to understand….
Synopsis
TRIXIE, MAXINE and ALEXA’s friendship dates back to halcyon school days, but now it’s fifteen years on, and although hard to admit, they aren’t as close as they once were. Trixie is about to move out of her long-time studio flat, where they once shared so many good times, and where, just after graduation, Alexa painted a wall mural depicting the three women’s romantic vision of themselves when they were much younger and more idealistic.
Fast-forward to the present day, and Maxine, far from grounded, flees her conventional lawyer boyfriend, JOHNNY, under whose suburban roof she’s been languishing, unemployed, for years. Maxine seeks sanctuary at the one
place she knows she will be able to hide and settle: Trixie’s. Trixie, the glamorous angel of the three, by now an ambitious film producer, is preparing for a date with godlike movie director BYRON, and deals with Maxine under sufferance, but suggests Maxine might like to take over the studio lease if she really decides to leave Johnny. Then Johnny shows up in search of Maxine, but fails to convince her to return home with him. Maxine’s nose is further put out of joint when unstable ALEXA arrives, also fleeing her own boyfriend, demonic ROY; the two women vie for
Trixie’s attention and support, regressing to their now-distant adolescence, until Trixie must finally stand her ground: shape up or ship out.
Maxine soon moves into the studio, hoping that by living on her own, she will find out her true path in life. But she finds it hard disentangle from paternalistic Johnny. She calls him in the middle of the night when she wakes from a recurring nightmare about the death of her own father, and so the strong ties with Johnny continue to prove difficult to sever. However, Maxine finds a ray of hope for her theatrical future: Byron promises her the chance of an audition for a leading film role, for which she would have to train up physically. While renegade Byron would love to cast an unknown talent like Maxine as his leading lady, cut-throat Trixie makes sure that the role goes to her new best
friend, the celebrity socialite ROXANNE. None the wiser, Maxine enthusiastically endures rigorous training with a soulful martial arts instructor, RYAN, with whom she has a meeting of the minds and hearts.
Meanwhile, although Alexa’s career is going from strength to strength (she’s even painting
Roxanne’s portrait), she hasn’t managed to shake creepy Roy, who follows her back to the studio the
night she is meant to celebrate Maxine’s birthday with the girls. Roy begins seducing Alexa, who
can’t resist his animalistic charms, and Maxine leaves her own birthday party in horror. Trixie
turns up belatedly for Maxine’s get-together, but just in time to rescue Alexa, who has been left
unconscious on the bathroom floor by Roy. Trixie takes Alexa to her new apartment for safety,
once again compromising her personal life for the sake of a friend.
After Maxine’s graduation from Ryan’s martial arts course, Ryan is finally able to openly pursue Maxine romantically. The fledgling couple return home from a Halloween party to find Johnny, dressed as a ghost and three sheets to the wind, waiting for them. Johnny blubbers to Maxine that he still loves her, to her dismay and distress. This makes matters rather awkward with Ryan, who plainly sees that he faces powerful ex-boyfriend competition: the scene culminates with Ryan proposing marriage to Maxine.
A month later, Byron and Trixie arrive at the studio to put in a cursory appearance at Maxine and Ryan’s modest engagement party. But Trixie is unhappy: Alexa’s omni-presence in Trixie’s home has further squelched her already tenuous relationship with the sexually-enigmatic Byron. In addition, Trixie has yet again double-booked with demanding Roxanne, so can’t stay long. An argument ensues, where Maxine accuses Trixie of superficially prioritising her friendships, which prompts the revelation of shattering home truths about Byron’s sexuality, and a final bust-up between Trixie and Byron. Trixie, devastated, heads for Roxanne’s star-studded dinner party alone, where she realises that Roxanne only stoked their friendship to get closer to Byron: Maxine was right, and Trixie is left without a boyfriend or a best friend. Ryan and Maxine also have a blazing row, and Ryan leaves Maxine.
On cue, Alexa arrives, closely pursued by Roy. Maxine leaves Alexa to her self-inflicted fate, as it seems Alexa has continued to deceive everyone by secretly seeing Roy all along. Maxine wanders the streets of London, lost and confused, before rushing back to the flat to discover Alexa lying in a pool of blood. Maxine, using all her new martial arts training, and aided by Ryan, manages to overpower Roy, and Alexa valiantly calls the police.
A week later, and the three women are back in the studio again. Maxine’s moving out, Alexa’s moving in, Trixie’s ready to admit she was wrong, and that she needs her friends. What emerges is grounded personal freedom for them all. They learn that a balance of light and darkness must exist, that facing demons head-on is the only way to move on, and that by sticking together, when everything is falling apart, true friendship can last a lifetime.
© 2010 Triptych UK Ltd 24/8/10