120 Battements Par Minute review: A sure contender for the best of the fest at this year’s Cannes, Robin Campillo’s epic and heartbreaking film is equally compelling and demanding – and rightly so.
120 Battements Par Minute review by Paul Heath at the 2017 Festival des Cannes 2017.
120 Battements Par Minute review
Arriving in the weekend program of the 70th Festival des Cannes is Robin Campillo’s grueling, though utterly compelling and important 120 Battements Par Minute (BPM [Beats Per Minute].
Set in the early 1990s following the breakout of the AIDS pandemic, the film focuses upon a group of Paris activists, ACT UP Paris, who we are first introduced to at one of their weekly meetings, an organiser seen immediately introducing four new recruits. We witness them reflect on a recent intervention at a political conference – some of them still stained for the remnants of the fake blood they covered officials in – and plan future action at a pharmaceutical company that is refusing to release test results of a potentially life-changing AIDS drug. In particular, we hone in on founding member Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), and new boy Nathan (Arnaud Valois), who we learn isn’t HIV positive though still wants to join, something of which the organisation actively welcomes. The two form an instant attraction, and then a relationship that progresses alongside the deterioration of Sean’s health over the film’s 140 minutes.
120 Battements Par Minute review
120 Battements Par Minute is a film of two definite parts. The first is a very slow-burning account of the founding members of the ACT UP Paris movement and their actions for the AIDS awareness cause that sees them take on the government, drugs companies and even secondary schools; groups of them constantly interrupting classes to promote safe sex through open speech and leaflets, some of which is embraced by the more liberal teachers, though more often than not met with hostility and ignorance from the majority. The second part is the more personal relationship between the two central characters in Sean and Nathan. We witness them slowly fall for one another, follow their intimate relationship, and how they deal with one of them being a ‘poz’ and the other HIV negative in a world which still lacks a huge amount of knowledge of the AIDS virus.
The narrative intensifies in more ways than one in the film’s second half, and we witness absolutely astonishing performances from both leads, particularly from Argentinian actor Biscayart who not only brings an emotionally charged energy to his earlier scenes, but seemingly undergoes a visible physical transformation in the traumatic third act, a distressing forty minutes featuring some of the best acting we’ve seen so far at the festival. The supporting cast also need a mention, and while there are too many solid performances to out single out, one must give a nod to the brilliant Adèle Haenel, who we saw deliver another magnificent turn in the otherwise lacklustre Cannes entry from last year, The Unknown Girl.
120 Battements Par Minute review
120 Battements Par Minute is perhaps a little overlong, but in some ways this aids the narrative and makes the final forty-five minutes work so well. It is demanding throughout, and rightly so – this is an astonishing piece of work and a very strong contender for this year’s top prize at Cannes.
120 Battements Par Minute review by Paul Heath, May 2017.
120 Battements Par Minute premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20th 2017.
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