Incendies - DaaVeeDee

Incendies (DVD) (*)

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Screened, competed or awarded at:
David Donatello Awards
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
Arabic ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
131 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 2010 and produced in:
Canada ( USA, Canada )
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Denis Villeneuve

Written By:
Denis Villeneuve
Wajdi Mouawad

Actors:
Lubna Azabal ..... Nawal Marwan
Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin ..... Jeanne Marwan
Maxim Gaudette ..... Simon Marwan
Rémy Girard ..... Notary Jean Lebel
Abdelghafour Elaaziz ..... Abou Tarek
Allen Altman ..... Notary Maddad
Mohamed Majd ..... Chamseddine
Nabil Sawalha ..... Fahim
Baya Belal ..... Maika
Bader Alami ..... Nicolas
Karim Babin ..... Le garde du corps de Chamsseddine
Anthony Ecclissi ..... Lifeguard
Yousef Shweihat ..... Sharif

Synopsis:

When history is a secret, when family is a lie ... what price would you pay for the truth? Twins Jeanne and Simon are left two envelopes in their mother's will, asking them to find a brother they never knew existed, and father they believed to be dead. Journeying from Canada to Lebanon to unravel this mystery, they begin to uncover the terrifying secrets of their mother's tumultuous and brutal past, the twists and turns of their discoveries moving them ever closer to a gut-wrenching and inevitable truth that will define their very existence. Powerful, raw and gripping, this Oscar-nominated and multi award-winning thriller is one of the most ambitious and momentous films of the year.

Canadian Nawal Marwan has just passed away. The only people at the reading of her will are her twin adult children, Jeanne and Simon Marwan, and the executor, Nawal's long time employer and friend, notary Jean Lebel. The will contains many unusual requests, the most unusual being two sealed envelopes, one to be delivered by each of the twins to their father and to their brother respectively. The unusual nature of these requests are that their father as they know passed away years earlier during the war in the Middle East (where Nawal was raised) and they have no knowledge of any other offspring. Simon sees these requests as further indication that his mother was crazy and he will have no part of any of what he sees as her unusual final requests. But Jeanne wants to respect her mother's final wishes, which means finding out who their real father is and who this unknown brother is. These tasks take Jeanne on a quest to the Middle East to trace her mother's history, of which she knows little. As Jeanne goes on her quest with what little information she has on hand, she finds a history filled with turmoil. But many who knew her mother or knew of her mother refuse to speak to Jeanne. Jeanne ultimately requires Simon's assistance who reluctantly joins her in the Middle East. But even Simon gets caught up in finding out about his father and brother when they are closer to piecing together the puzzle. Finding out about their mother's past and thus their own history may enlighten them on why Nawal was the woman that she was.

Denis Villeneuve's 'Incendies," a film very much occupied with some of the grisly realities of recent history, nonetheless has the structure, and some of the atmosphere, of an ancient folk tale. It is a quest narrative, about children searching out the mysteries of their parentage, and also the story of a resourceful heroine, the mother of those children, surviving an almost unimaginable series of ordeals. These entwined plots unfurl in the recognizable, modern world; in Quebec and an unnamed country that closely resembles Lebanon; and at the same time in an allegorical universe governed by the tightly coiled logic of fate. Judged by strictly naturalistic standards, the flurry of revelations and coincidences that wrap up the double story may seem implausible. But strict verisimilitude would not serve the dramatic ends that 'Incendies," based on a play of the same name by Wajdi Mouawad, sets out to serve. The knotted destinies of its characters are like the family secrets in a Shakespearean or classical comedy but turned to a darker purpose.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 25 October, 2011.