Thursday, March 06, 2014
GRAND CENTRAL
GRAND CENTRAL
A FILM BY REBECCA ZLOTOWSKI
Tahar Rahim and Lea Seydoux
GRAND CENTRAL
GRAND CENTRAL
In this love story, set among workers at a nuclear power plant, there are different and various reasons why different people choose to work in this dangerous environment:
- They believe in nuclear power and are dedicated to making it work
- They are dedicated and loyal to the team of people they work with
- It is dangerous - they choose this challenge
- They are drifters and they can drift in and then drift out
- They are marginally employable, and this is a job that will hire them
- They need money and this is a job that will hire them quickly
The work is hard, and dangerous, and the more strong emotions (love, jealousy, rivalry) that are injected into the workplace, the more dangerous the work becomes. If you have ever wondered whether nuclear power plants are insulated from the foibles of the people who run them, this film provides a strong suggestion that the answer is NO WAY!
At the nuclear power plant
workers must guard their radiation dosage
with protective clothes before going in
and a scrub-down coming out.
GRAND CENTRAL
Nuclear power plants, generally speaking (not in the context of any issue raised in this film) are dangerous for the following reasons:
- They are a cover for nuclear weapons proliferation
- They are subject to severe accidents, due to nature or human error
- They are vulnerable to deliberate acts, including theft of radioactive materials, and intentional "accidents"
- They create nuclear waste, for which no solution has yet been found
- And perhaps, most severe, although hardly ever mentioned in the discussion of nuclear power, is the possibility (likelihood!) that at some point, long before the nuclear waste problem has been solved, a lack of financial motivation for the upkeep of aging -- even decommissioned reactors -- will result in unprotected, un-maintained, and therefore extremely hazardous former nuclear sites.
The love story is torrid, although at times a bit confusing.
The music, cinematography, and all the performances are excellent.
This is a most interesting film. It won the Francois Chalais prize at Cannes (a prize related to journalism), and some awards at other festivals; Olivier Gourmet was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2014 César Awards.
GRAND CENTRAL will be screened in New York at the 2014 RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA. For more information about Rendez-Vous, please see:
Here's the description of the film at the Rendez-Vous:
GRAND CENTRAL
Rebecca Zlotowski, France/Austria, 2013, 94m
In French with English subtitles
A nuclear power plant serves as the setting for a forbidden romance as volatile as the facility itself in the intense, brilliantly acted second feature from Rebecca Zlotowski (Belle Epine). Gary (A Prophet's Tahar Rahim) is a poor, unskilled laborer looking for easy money and a place to fit in. Karole (Léa Seydoux) is the fiancée of longtime plant employee Toni (Denis Ménochet), one of the many underpaid men and women who daily brave illness and possible death from radiation poisoning. Soon Gary and Karole fall rapturously in love, and their moonlit trysts in the bucolic surrounding countryside pose a growing threat to the staff's tight-knit bonds. Zlotowski focuses both on the everyday routines of the workers and on the swooning passions of the love triangle at the film’s heart, with electronica pulsating on the soundtrack as her characters gamble ever more perilously in work and love. Olivier Gourmet is nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2014 César Awards.
Friday, March 7, 9:00pm – WRT;
Saturday, March 8, 4:45pm – IFC;
Sunday, March 9, 4:30pm – BAM;
Monday, March 10, 3:30pm - WRT
In Person: Rebecca Zlotowski
CAST:
Léa Seydoux - Karole
Tahar Rahim - Gary Manda
Denis Ménochet - Toni
Olivier Gourmet - Gilles
Johan Libéreau - Tcherno
Camille Lellouche - Géraldine
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart - Isaac
GRAND CENTRAL - WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_%28film%29
GRAND CENTRAL - IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2835548/
REBECCA ZLOTOWSKI - IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2294243
LEA SEYDOUX - WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9a_Seydoux
LEA SEYDOUX - IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2244205
TAHAR RAHIM - WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahar_Rahim
TAHAR RAHIM IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2588665
LEA SEYDOUX AND REBECCA ZLOTOWSKI INTERVIEWED IN CANNES
INTERVIEW - LEA SEYDOUX
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Labels: GRAND CENTRAL - Rendez-Vous with French Cinema - Lea Seydoux, Rebecca Zlotowski, Tahar Rahim
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Lea Seydoux the 2013 Palme D'Or winner for Blue is the warmest color also won Best Actress for Grand Central and Blue is the warmest color at the 2014 Prix Lumieres Awards.Prix Lumieres = French Golden Globes
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# posted by 
: Friday, March 21, 2014 9:20:00 PM
: Friday, March 21, 2014 9:20:00 PM << Home
