Polytechnique (2009)

Polytechnique (2009)

The pervasiveness of misogyny and male violence in this black and white flick

7.5

Movie

Canada
French
Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
2009
DENIS VILLENEUVE
Adam Kosh, Alexandre St-Martin, Cynthia Wu-Maheux
77 min

What it's about

A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.

The take

Polytechnique directed by Denis Villeneuve, is a dramatization of the 1989 Montreal massacre of multiple female engineering students. This film focuses on a male student navigating the massacre for the majority of the film’s run time. The performances and minimal dialogue in this film certainly make this an unnerving film to watch. Littered with the screams of the actors portraying the engineering students, this could be mistaken as a gaudy horror film. However, this is far from a fictionalized horror.

This Villeneuve classic is undoubtedly one of the most emotionally brutal films of the 2000s, yet I appreciate the honesty of the storytelling. Polytechnique encourages its audience to ask itself if it truly understands the truth of misogyny. 

Comments

Add a comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

More like this in

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

A star-studded and riveting legal drama with a blockbuster feel.

8.1

Forgotten Love (2023)

The stunning third take of the classic Polish pre-war melodrama

7.7

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

Art of Love (2024)

An underwhelming heist romance with all of the style but none of the thrills

5.7

System Crasher (2019)

A tale of trauma and one of the most talked about movies on Netflix in 2020.

9.0

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

The Monk and the Gun (2024)

Pawo Choyning Dorji depicts Bhutan through this fascinatingly gentle comedy during its shift to democracy

8.1

Thank You, I’m Sorry (2023)

Estranged sisters reconnect amidst grief and bizarre comedy in this understated Swedish drama

6.5

Poison for the Fairies (1986)

Two Mexican schoolgirls forge a frightening friendship in this morbid coming-of-age horror

7.8

Last Call for Istanbul (2023)

A seemingly generic Turkish romance travel film, until it gets into its second half

7.0

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.