La Turbulence des Fluides
Winter 2003 Main series
Sunday, March 2, 2003 at 4:00pm
Sunday, March 2, 2003 at 7:00pm
Monday, March 3, 2003 at 7:00pm
Empire Theatres, New Minas, NS
Directed by
Starring
Rated 14A ·
1h 54m
Canada
French
Québec director Manon Briand’s follow-up to her acclaimed and multiple award winning debut 2 Seconds, is a haunting tribute to forces beyond our control that nicely balances overwrought emotion with earthy wit. The film, which was a Special Presentation of the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, overflows with seductive and evocative imagery, surely one of the most beautifully shot films of the year. The always captivating Pascale Bussieres (The Five Senses, Emporte-moi) plays Alice, a bitter seismologist who returns from Tokyo to her hometown of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, in order to determine why the tides there have suddenly stopped. What ensues is a fun and enthralling detective story, full of odd, enticing details; the townsfolk are generally very off-kilter, a sleepwalking child spends her evenings at a snack bar (watched over by Canadian screen legend Genevieve Bujold, Last Night), and the telephone number of a charming water-bombing pilot has mysteriously and inexplicably been torn from every phone book. But the film also offers the pleasures of a slow-burning romance (with Maëlstrom’s Jean-Nicolas Verreault) and a mystery that piles on the coincidences until your skepticism melts away. La Turbulence des Fluides boasts pitch-perfect performances from a stellar, accomplished cast, as well as dazzling cinematography that echoes the stifling heat and internalized pressure of some of the best film noir.
“A hot, visually entrancing film.” – Kim Linekin, eyeWEEKLY