Synopsis
A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.
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Cast
- Maxim GaudetteThe Assassin
- Sébastien HuberdeauJean-François
- Karine VanasseValérie
- Evelyne BrochuStéphanie
- Martin WatierJean-François (voice)
- Johanne-Marie TremblayJean-François' Mother
- Natalie Hamel-RoyJean-François' Mother (voice)
- Pierre-Yves CardinalÉric
- Pierre LeblancMr. Martineau
- Francesca BarcenasInjured Student at Copier
Recommendations
- 88
Slant Magazine
Though it's as schematic in construction as Incendies, the film doesn't grind along to a ponderous plot; it's unnerving abstraction of its subject matter more daringly relays Villeneuve's view of the human cost of gender warfare. - 80
Time Out
Though the characters are fictional, Polytechnique hews close to the facts regarding the 1989 incident, down to its misogynistic Marc Lépine avatar (Gaudette) separating "feminist" coeds in a classroom. - 60
The New York Times
It is neither floridly melodramatic nor showily minimalist. The virtue - and also the limitation - of this movie is that it confronts senselessness and insists on remaining calm and sane. - 60
Village Voice
Polytechnique smartly exposes the spectrum of misogyny without overplaying the connection between the two incidents. Which makes the concluding flash-forward scene all the more disappointing: Designed to give hope, it comes off as an emotional sop instead. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
As much a memorial as it is a docudrama and as such it will interest educators and students, and make for sober television. It's a pity, though, that more of an attempt wasn't made to understand the killer and explain such things as why no one apparently thought to phone for help or hit the fire alarm. - 50
Variety
A weaker "Elephant," Quebecois director Denis Villeneuve's school-shooting drama Polytechnique nevertheless distinguishes itself by endeavoring to comprehend the 25-year-old man who murdered more than a dozen female students at Montreal's Polytechnique School in 1989.
