Rent Polytechnique (2009)
3.7 of 5 from 88 ratings
1h 17min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Young lives are changed for ever when a gunman opens fire in a Canadian engineering school, determined to kill as many women as possible. A dramatisation of the 1989 Montreal massacre, 'Polytechnique' documents events through the eyes of two students and the perpetrator, and explores how the horrors of a single day leave a legacy far beyond the shooting itself.
- Actors:
- Maxim Gaudette, Sébastien Huberdeau, Karine Vanasse, Martin Watier, Evelyne Brochu, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Natalie Hamel-Roy, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Pierre Leblanc, Francesca Barcenas, Eve Duranceau, Mathieu Ledoux, Adam Kosh, Larissa Corriveau, Manon Lapointe, Kim Lavack Paquin, Mireille Brullemans, Pier-Olivier Paquet, Louise Proulx, Lily Thibeault
- Directors:
- Denis Villeneuve
- Producers:
- Don Carmody, André Rouleau, Maxime Rémillard, Karine Vanasse
- Voiced By:
- Martin Watier, Natalie Hamel-Roy
- Writers:
- Jacques Davidts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Leca
- Genres:
- Drama
- Countries:
- Canada
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 07/12/2020
- Run Time:
- 77 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM Stereo, French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French LPCM Stereo
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Includes both English and French-language versions of the film
- Polytechnique: Ce qu'il reste du 6 decembre (2019, 52 mins): made for the 30th anniversary of the Montreal massacre, Judith Plamondon's documentary gives voice to the survivors and witnesses of the tragedy and is narrated by Karine Vanasse, actor and co-producer of 'Polytechnique'
- Trailer
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Reviews (3) of Polytechnique
Shocking Mini Masterpiece - Polytechnique review by GI
This film is a mini masterpiece of tension and story construction. It's a fictionalised reconstruction of a real event, a massacre in a Canadian Engineering college in 1989 when a student rampaged through the school targeting the women staff and students. Shot in a dreamy yet bleak black and white adds to the suspense giving the film a realistic feel that makes it a truly gripping experience. Director Denis Villeneuve's third film before he began to make a big name for himself in Hollywood and here you can see an inspired film maker beginning to blossom. This is a very accomplished film, wonderfully edited, and with occasional yet curious jump cuts that work very effectively. The film is told through the eyes of three main characters. In the mid winter a disaffected young student (Maxim Gaudette), never named, takes a high powered rifle and with a grudge against women for stealing what he sees as the rightful places for men, begins to shoot, at first with careful precision, but later randomly students at a Montreal Polytechnic college. Karine Vanasse plays Valérie, a student with ambition to be a mechanical engineer but faced with the social misogyny that such careers are the preserve of men who is in class when the killer arrives and has to deal with the attack and the aftermath. A male student, Jean-Françoise (Sébastien Huberdeau), and friend of Valérie tries to help the wounded but also faces emotional problems once the event is over. This film has some quite shocking moments so be prepared it's a powerful and emotional experience without needing to resort to gratuitous violence and this is down to Villeneuve's skill at story construction and visuals. An amazing film and one I highly recommend. It will impress you and leave an indelible mark.
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Denis Villeneuve's Storm - Polytechnique review by Johannes
Before the shooting, there is a scene of reflection in Polytechnique: Jean-Francois is drawn towards a reproduced copy of Picasso's Guernica, a bestiary swarming with bulls, horses, and human suffering. It hangs, without explanation, on the wall of the École Polytechnique; later, these spaces will tear open with another violence. The silent witness of Gus Van Sant's Elephant (an impressionistic recreation of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre) is present in Denis Villeneuve's Polytechnique (inspired by the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre), but the latter has more to say, bookending its narrative with male bitterness and misogyny. Like Guernica, Polytechnique represents the difficulty of witnessing violence
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Moments of brilliance though ultimately flawed - Polytechnique review by RD
Polytechnique is beautifully and carefully filmed, clearly calculated to be horrifying but careful to avoid becoming gun/splatter porn. It is a film that is difficult to watch, as it should be but also flawed. Following three students, including the shooter, it allows the fictionalised horrifying attack to play out dramatically melodrama and also illustrates the longer term effects of the attack, including both hope and despair. That said it focuses too much on the attacker without ever really getting to gripes with what caused him to act in this way (all it shows is his shallow thinking). Arguably the film would have been better to have concentrated just on the students caught in the attack under the circumstances. There are also some issues with verisimilitude that make the attack itself partially unbelievable (someone didn't hit a fire alarm to force people from the building?). Still it is a sensitive and rightfully shocking film but imperfect and at 77 minutes, surprisingly overlong.
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