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BPM—Beats Per Minute (120 battements par minute)
Directed by Robin Campillo
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$9/$7 Speed and Alliance Française members
“Exhilarating and ultimately moving.”—Mark Jenkins, Washington Post
A smash after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, BPM follows the emergence of ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) in Paris in the early 1990s. Amid the rallies, fierce debates, and ecstatic dance parties, intimate connections are made and vibrant life rages against indifference from the government and much of the public.
In the Paris college classroom where the group meets to argue debate strategy and plan its protests, the newcomer Nathan (Arnaud Valois), is attracted to its fieriest member, Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart). Eager to push the limits in disruptive public confrontations, Sean often grows testy and impatient with the more moderate approaches advocated by the group’s leaders, Thibault (Antoine Reinartz) and Sophie (Adèle Haenel). There is an urgency driving Sean’s radicalism. His health is more fragile than many of the activists, who are both gay and straight, HIV-negative and positive. At the time, sexual intimacy itself becomes a form of resistance.
France’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. 2017, France, DCP, in French with English subtitles, 144 minutes. Recommended for 16+.