- Maelström (film)
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Maelstrom Directed by Denis Villeneuve Written by Denis Villeneuve Narrated by Pierre Lebeau Starring Marie-Josee Croze Music by Pierre Desrochers Distributed by Alliance Atlantis Release date(s) 29 August 2000 (premiere at Montreal Film Festival)
15 September 2000 (Canada)
25 January 2002 (USA, limited)Country Canada Language French Maelström is a 2000 Canadian film by Québécois writer-director Denis Villeneuve. It stars Marie-Josée Croze as a depressed, alcoholic woman who becomes romantically involved with the son of a man she believes to have killed in a hit and run accident.
The film has won 23 awards, including 5 Genie Awards and the FIPRESCI Prize, and was nominated for 8 more awards.
Synopsis
The story is told by a fish (with the voice of Pierre Lebeau). In Quebec during the autumn of 1999, twenty-five-year-old Bibiane Champagne (Marie-Josée Croze), head of three clothing boutiques, is being crushed by the expectations put on her for being the daughter of a celebrity, Flo Fabert. She resorts to drugs and alcohol in an effort to cope, while trying in vain to keep her problems from for example her colleague brother Philippe (Bobby Beshro) and a persistent magazine reporter (Marie-France Lambert). The early scenes of the film show her friends supporting her through her first abortion and her inability to function in her job.
One night, Bibiane fatally wounds a 53-year-old fishmonger, Annstein Karson, in a hit and run accident. Wracked by guilt, and wanting to erase the evidence, she drives her car into the river. She survives, and interprets her survival as a sign that she deserves to recover her life. The fishmonger's son Evian, a diver who was recently inspecting Manic 5, encounters Bibiane by surprise and she quickly poses as his late father's neighbour. Evian falls in love with her, and Bibiane confesses eventually that she is his father's killer. She helps him sort through Annstein's possessions, and in the final scene, Bibiane accompanies Evian to Lofoten to dispose of the ashes.
References
External links
- Maelström at the Internet Movie Database
Canadian Film Award/Genie Award winners for Best Motion Picture Canadian Film Award À tout prendre (1964) • The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1965) • Le Festin des Morts (1966) • Warrendale (1967) • The Ernie Game (1968) • The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar (1969) • Goin' Down the Road (1970) • Mon oncle Antoine (1971) • Wedding in White (1972) • Slipstream (1973) • The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) • Les Ordres (1975) • Lies My Father Told Me (1976) • J.A. Martin Photographer (1977) • The Silent Partner (1978)
Genie Award The Changeling (1980) • Les Bons débarras (1981) • Ticket to Heaven (1982) • The Grey Fox (1983) • The Terry Fox Story (1984) • The Bay Boy (1985) • My American Cousin (1986) • Le Déclin de l'empire américain (1987) • Un Zoo la nuit (1988) • Dead Ringers (1989) • Jésus de Montréal (1990) • Black Robe (1991) • Naked Lunch (1992) • Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) • Exotica (1994) • The Confessional (1995) • Lilies (1996) • The Sweet Hereafter (1997) • The Red Violin (1998) • Sunshine (1999) • Maelström (2000) • Atanarjuat (2001) • Ararat (2002) • Les Invasions barbares (2003) • Les Triplettes de Belleville (2004) • C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) • Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) • Away from Her (2007) • Passchendaele (2008) • Polytechnique (2009) • Incendies (2010)
1990s August 32nd on Earth (1998)2000s Maelström (2000) · Polytechnique (2009)2010s Incendies (2010)Categories:- Canadian films
- French-language films
- 2000 films
- Quebec films
- Canadian drama films
- Genie Award for Best Picture winners
- Films shot in Montreal
- Films directed by Denis Villeneuve
- 2000s drama film stubs
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