A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.
Direction
Villeneuve's early masterpiece of restraint and formal control.
Cinematography
Pierre Gill's high-contrast 35mm black-and-white haunts.
Sound
The absence of score, the weight of breath and footsteps.
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Maxim Gaudette
The Assassin
Sébastien Huberdeau
Jean-François
Karine Vanasse
Valérie
Evelyne Brochu
Stéphanie
Martin Watier
Jean-François (voice)
Johanne-Marie Tremblay
Jean-François' Mother
Natalie Hamel-Roy
Jean-François' Mother (voice)
Pierre-Yves Cardinal
Éric
Pierre Leblanc
Mr. Martineau
Francesca Barcenas
Injured Student at Copier
Ève Duranceau
Student with the Ear Injury
Larissa Corriveau
Killer's Neighboor
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Villeneuve co-wrote with Éric Lecaedal, who actually attended Polytechnique during the massacre—this is survivor cinema.
The December 6, 1989 Montreal Massacre remains Canada's deadliest mass shooting; this film reopened national wounds Villeneuve refused to sanitize.
CA
