Polytechnique (film)
| Polytechnique | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Denis Villeneuve |
| Produced by |
Don Carmody Maxime Rémillard |
| Written by |
Jacques Davidts Denis Villeneuve |
| Starring |
Maxim Gaudette Sebastien Huberdeau Karine Vanasse Évelyne Brochu Johanne-Marie Tremblay Pierre-Yves Cardinal |
| Music by | Benoit Charest |
| Cinematography | Pierre Gill |
| Edited by | Richard Comeau |
| Distributed by |
Alliance Films Remstar Wild Bunch |
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Release date
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Running time
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77 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | French English |
| Budget | $6 million |
| Box office | $1,663,867 |
Polytechnique is a 2009 Canadian film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Villeneuve and Jacques Davidts. Set in Montreal, Quebec and based on the École Polytechnique massacre (also known as the "Montreal Massacre"), the film documents the events of December 6, 1989, through the eyes of two students who witness a gunman murder fourteen young women.
After a release in Quebec in February 2009, it was featured in the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. It received numerous honours, including nine Genie Awards, notably Best Motion Picture.
During a class a young man enters a classroom with a rifle. He orders the men to leave and the women to stay. They comply after he shoots into the ceiling to show that he is serious. He tells the women that he hates feminists. Although the women deny being feminists; he shoots at them killing some and wounding others. He then moves through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women. Once finished, he shoots himself with his own weapon.
The film jumps back and forth in time several times. It shows male student Jean-François who was ordered to leave the classroom. He does not just flee but he returns to try to stop the killer and/or help the victims. Valérie and Stéphanie, two surviving women, play dead thinking the killer returned, though Stephanie later dies of her injuries.
Some time after the massacre Jean-François, feeling guilty for complying with the order to leave the classroom and abandoning the women, commits suicide. Valérie, wearing the Iron Ring, the professional ring of Canadian engineers, learns she is pregnant, planning to tell a potential son to be loving, or a potential daughter that the world belongs to her.
The rest of the cast listed alphabetically:
Karine Vanasse, who played Valérie, helped produce Polytechnique, and wanted to make a film about the massacre for years. She helped secure director Denis Villeneuve for the film, who at the time was respected for making the 2000 film Maelström. Despite the sensitivity to the incident in Quebec, Villeneuve asserted it was not too soon for a film, and that there was an important conversation to be had.
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