Polytechnique

Name: Polytechnique
Genre: Drama, History, Crime
Released: June 29, 2011
Duration: 77 min
Rating: 63

2011

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Critics

See All

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Ratings

See All

5.6

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5.6	Your Score
5.6	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Movie Details & Credits

Not Rated

Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm | Release Date: June 29, 2011

Summary: Based on the testimonies of the survivors that experienced the dramatic event at the Polytechnic School of Montreal on December 6th 1989, the film tells the story of two students whose lives are rocked when a dying young man breaks into the school with the intention of taking as many women as he can into death with him. [Remstar Distribution]

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Genre(s): Drama, History, Crime

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 77 min

See All Details and Credits

Awards & Rankings

Watch Now

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Slant Magazine - Ed Gonzalez

Jun 28, 2011

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. Read full review

Time Out - David Fear

Jun 28, 2011

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. Read full review

Village Voice - Melissa Anderson

Jun 28, 2011

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. Read full review

The New York Times - A.O. Scott

Jun 28, 2011

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. Read full review

Variety - Rob Nelson

Jun 28, 2011

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. Read full review

The Hollywood Reporter - Ray Bennett

Jun 28, 2011

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. Read full review

SEE ALL 6 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Mixed:

User Reviews

BladeLover2049

Sep 7, 2018

In an icy atmosphere hot bullets are coming, and that's what the film talks about: the peace interfered with by violence and death and desolation are shown in the last plane. A beautiful movie.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 1 REVIEWS