While “Dune” has been in theaters since September 15, (re) discover the other gems directed by Denis Villeneuve, from “Premier contact” to “Prisoners” via “Sicario”.
THE BEGINNINGS
France got to know Denis Villeneuve in two stages: going through Cannes and Un Certain Regard in 1998, Un 32 August sur Terre was released in our theaters… two years later. Confidential, like his second feature film, Maelström, visible in 2001 in France. Two opus which revolve around an accident, a radical change of life, and let glimpse the faculties of the filmmaker when it comes to scrutinizing the intimate.
Remstar Productions Inc.
And it was in 2009 that he confirmed all the hopes placed in him with the Polytechnique shock, a black and white account of the slaughter that had occurred two decades earlier in the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal. We obviously think of Elephant by Gus Van Sant, and Denis Villeneuve cannot escape the comparison with the 2003 Palme d’Or, with whom he shares a choral side in his way of following the characters.
But the director seduces by his sobriety and his restraint in the treatment of the news item, as well as by the few notes of hope that he distils despite the tragedy. And he is already proving his love of aerial plans that we will find in Blade Runner 2049 or Dune.
With 5 Jutra Awards (Quebec equivalent of the César and Oscars), including that of Best Director, it has established its author as a safe bet whose talent is waiting to explode with the general public. Which is only a matter of time.
FIRES (2011)
Happiness
Considered one of the 10 best films of 2011 by the New York Times, Incendies is the film that will bring an international aura to Denis Villeneuve and which will allow him his foray into the Hollywood market thereafter with Prisoners and Enemy, in particular. Inspired by the play by Wajdi Mouawad, itself inspired by the life of Souha Bechara, this film tells the quest of the twins Jeanne and Simon on their origins and the true story of their mother.
Narrowly missing the statuette for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, Incendies won over critics as much as audiences with the strength of its narrative and the breathtaking beauty of its cruel, raw but cruel images of truth.
This family chronicle touches the heart and marks a turning point in the career of Denis Villeneuve, who shows the whole world his talent for mixing emotion and the accuracy of the intimate with the extraordinary staging of a powerful thriller. large scope.
PRISONERS (2013)
SND
Prisoners is undoubtedly the film which made Denis Villeneuve explode in the eyes of the general public. This very dark, harsh and violent thriller left its mark on the spectators, spellbound by the exceptional performances of Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.
The first powerfully embodies a father devastated by the disappearance of his daughter, breaking completely with his character of Wolverine who was starting to stick to his skin too much. As for the second, he plays a pugnacious and phlegmatic investigator with rare intensity.
By signing this breathtaking thriller, Denis Villeneuve shook a genre that had become a little moribund, summoning prestigious influences such as Zodiac by David Fincher or Mystic River by Clint Eastwood. Relentless suspense, creepy and bleak atmosphere, the Canadian took us into a paranoid whirlwind for 2 hours 30, leaving us completely speechless at the time of the outcome.
ENEMY (2013)
capelight pictures
The same year as the release of his remarkable Prisoners, the Quebec filmmaker finds Jake gyllenhaal for a second feature film much more intimate, much more confidential, but just as disturbing for the spectators who dare to venture there.
This psychological maze worthy of a Christopher Nolan, this “new trap of Denis Villeneuve“, as the trailer describes it, follows the journey of Adam Bell, a monotonous university professor who suddenly makes a most overwhelming discovery: somewhere, a few miles from his home, lives a man who looks exactly like it.
Trompe l’oeil, illusion, paranoid delirium or schizophrenic confusion … Enemy is in any case a spider’s web which you will not get rid of so easily, and whose final plan, …
