Adoration is a 2009 Canadian drama film directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Rachel Blanchard, Scott Speedman and Devon Bostick. Adoration is about a young man obsessed with the idea that he is the spawn of two historical figures. It is Egoyan's first feature film since Where The Truth Lies.
The film was first shown in May 2008 at the Cannes Film Festival.[1] Adoration won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and was nominated for the Palme d'Or. The film will have its U.S. premiere in April 2009 at the San Francisco International Film Festival and will go into U.S. release on May 8, 2009.
Plot
French high school teacher Sabine gives her class a translation exercise a French newspaper report of which a terrorist who plants a bomb in the airline luggage of his pregnant girlfriend, which would have killed her, her unborn child, and many others, but was discovered in time. Egoyan based this on the 1986 Hindawi affair.[2] In the course of translating, Simon, who lives with his uncle Tom, imagines that the news item is his own family's story, where his Palestinian father Sami was the terrorist, the woman was his mother Rachel, an accomplished violinist, and he was her unborn child. Years ago, Sami crashed the family car, killing both himself and Rachel, making Simon an orphan. Influenced by his racist grandfather (the audience sees Simon filming him with his mobile phone when he talks to him), Simon has always feared that the crash was not an accident but intentional. Simon reads his version to the class. Sabine asks him to develop the story as a drama exercise, and for dramatic effect pretend that it really happened. So he does, and discussions evolve on the Internet about the story. Sabine is fired for making Simon lie.
Tom, who is a tow truck driver, tows Sabine's car away. Sabine follows him in a taxi, and by mobile phone offers him a meal in a restaurant. Later she reveals to him that she had been married to Sami for 5 years, until Sami met Rachel.
Cast
Production
The Internet discussion sessions featured in the film were edited from a two to four hour improvised group discussion on the Internet by several of Egoyan's friends and fellow artists.[3] The song "09-15-00" by Canadian band Godspeed You! Black Emperor is used in the film, but is unlicensed and not authorized by the band or their label and was used without permission.
Reception
As of August 19, 2009, 72% of 67 critics listed by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes had given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[4] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 19 reviews.[5]
References
External links
|
Films directed by Atom Egoyan |
|
| Feature Films |
|
|
| TV Films |
|
|
| Short Films |
Howard in Particular (1979) · After Grad with Dad (1980) · Peep Show (1981) · Open House (1982) · Men: A Passion Playground (1985) · Looking for Nothing (1988) · Montréal vu par... / Montreal Sextet segment: En passant (In Passing) (1991) · A Portrait of Arshile (1995) · The Line (2000) ·
Diaspora (2001) · Chacun son cinéma / To Each His Cinema segment: Artaud Double Bill (2007) ·
|
|
