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A History of Violence (VOA)
Location
Main screening room
Date
February 21st, 2022
Admission
16+ (Violence)
Duration
96 min
Cycle
Cronenberg: Through a Distorting Mirror

David Cronenberg has created a multidimensional universe in which he insistently questions the limits of every facet of the human condition – physical, moral and existential. This program extends from his early days in Montreal, where he made exploitation flicks produced by Cinépix (Rabid, Shivers), to Maps to the Stars, a scathing take on the California jet-set lifestyle. A creepy parallel universe emerges through films like The Fly, which catapulted him to mainstream success, and eXistenZ, in which it seems perfectly normal to plug an organic game console into one’s spine. This is inside-out cinema, in which unique beings constantly show us funhouse-mirror reflections of our world. This program includes all of Cronenberg’s features, most of them in 35 mm.

A History of Violence
Directed by
David Cronenberg
Language
English version
Actors
Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes
Origins
Germany, USA
Year
2005
Duration
96 min
Genre
Drama, thriller
Rating
16+ (Violence)
Format
Digital
Synopsis

Tom Stall, owner of a small restaurant in a village in Indiana, lives a peaceful and happy life with his wife and their two children. Tom sees his life turned upside down the day he kills two murderous thugs who were trying to take over his cash register. The case goes on and on in the media and Tom becomes a national hero in spite of himself.

A History of Violence

The trailer is in the original version. The movie will be in VOSTF.

Awards

David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg is a Canadian film director, actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is one of the main originators of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and the intertwining of the psychological, physical, and technological. In the first third of his career, he explored these themes mostly through sci-fi horror films such as Scanners (1981) and Videodrome (1983), although his work has since expanded beyond these genres. Cronenberg's films have polarized critics and audiences alike; he has earned critical acclaim and has sparked controversy for his depictions of gore and violence. His films have won numerous awards, including the Special Jury Prize for Crash at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, a unique award that is distinct from the Jury Prize as it is not given annually, but only at the request of the official jury, who in this case gave the award "for its originality, daring, and audacity". From the 2000s to the 2020s, he collaborated on several films with Viggo Mortensen, including one of his most recent offering, Crimes of the Future (2022).

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« [...] Un chef-d'oeuvre enfin tel que les cinéphiles et le plus large public les apprécient, en vertu de l'empreinte industrielle du projet (un film de commande adapté de la bande dessinée éponyme de John Wagner et Vince Locke), de la simplicité du propos (une histoire rectiligne, hyper-efficace, qui file droit comme une flèche au coeur de la cible), et du genre auquel il appartient (un pur thriller). Tout le génie du cinéaste consiste évidemment à respecter l'apparence de ces définitions pour mieux les atomiser de l'intérieur. [...] »
Jacques Mandelbaum
Le Monde (2005)
About A History of Violence
Full cast
About David Cronenberg
Filmography
Studies
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