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The Twentieth Century is a 2019 Canadian surrealist comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Rankin in his full-length directorial debut.[1] The film portrays a fictionalized portrait of the rise to power of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King as played by Dan Beirne.[2] It won three Canadian Screen Awards.

The Twentieth Century
Film poster
Directed by	Matthew Rankin
Written by	Matthew Rankin
Produced by	Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette Ménaïc Raoul
Starring	Dan Beirne Catherine St-Laurent Louis Negin Brent Skagford
Cinematography	Vincent Biron
Edited by	Matthew Rankin
Music by	Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux Peter Venne
Production company	Voyelles Films
Distributed by	Oscilloscope Pictures
Release date	September 10, 2019 (2019-09-10) (TIFF)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

Historical divergence

The film is not a realistic or literally accurate depiction of Canadian history,[3] instead mixing and matching elements of real history with invented fantasia in a stylized manner reminiscent of the films of Guy Maddin, and taking place largely on deliberately unrealistic sets influenced by German Expressionism, 1940s melodrama and wartime propaganda films.[4] Rankin himself described it as "one part Canadian Heritage Minute and one part ayahuasca death trip".[5]

Although most of the film's major characters are at least loosely based on real Canadian historical figures, not all of their careers actually coexisted. In reality, although Mackenzie King and Arthur Meighen already knew and disliked each other by 1899, neither man had even entered electoral politics at all yet, let alone being candidates for Prime Minister, as of that time — while the real Bert Harper was never a political rival to either man, but merely a government bureaucrat. Harper did genuinely die by drowning, albeit not until 1901, and he drowned while attempting to rescue Bessie Blair, the daughter of New Brunswick premier Andrew George Blair. The real Lord Minto, further, was a benign figure who distinguished himself in Canadian history primarily as a patron of amateur sports, and his term as Governor General had already ended by the time either King or Meighen were in politics — whereas Lord Muto, his fictionalized portrayal in the film, is an openly fascist dictator with much more control over political affairs than Canadian Governors General actually have, who oversees Canadian politics in a manner more reminiscent of The Hunger Games than the real Canadian electoral process, and who is openly conspiring to draw the Canadian military much more deeply into the Boer War. Minto really did have daughters named Ruby and Violet, although both were only teenagers, not adult women, as of 1899. Joseph-Israël Tarte was also a real political figure, although he did not serve concurrently with either King or Meighen and was not strongly associated with the Quebec nationalist movement; he was, however, an opponent of Canadian entry into the Boer War.

According to Rankin, "I wanted everything to feel artificial all the time. The conceit of the film is that Canada might just be totally fake and in this person’s head. And the film is about his head. Everything in the film is drawn from Mackenzie King’s diary and reprocessed. I describe it as a nightmare that he might have had in 1899."[6] He has also described the film as a satire on the overly earnest way that Canadian history is often presented in film and television, contrasting it against both Heritage Minutes and Sullivan Entertainment costume dramas.[6]

The film also makes use of both cross-gender acting, with three significant characters (King's mother, J. Israël Tarte and Lady Violet) portrayed by cross-gender performers in drag, and colour-blind casting, with two White Anglo-Saxon Protestant characters (Bert Harper and Dr. Wakefield) portrayed by Asian-Canadian actors. Rankin has described this aspect of the film by saying that "I wanted to take a school-play approach that you don't see so much in film for some reason. In a school play you can have a Filipino Captain von Trapp and a transgender Artful Dodger and it's fine. In film, I don’t understand why there’s this pressure to always link an actor to their exact demographic profile."[6]

Cast

Release

The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness program,[7] and won the festival's award for Best Canadian First Feature Film.[8] The film was subsequently screened at the 2019 Los Cabos International Film Festival,[9] where it won the festival's Premio Competencia award.[10]

Critical reaction

Film critic Peter Howell described the film as "Monty Python by way of Rankin’s fellow Winnipegger Guy Maddin",[11] while David Friend of The Canadian Press said the film "subverts the mystique around politicians by mocking patriotism, propaganda and Canadian identity."[12]

For The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer described the film as "Guy Maddin meets John Waters by way of Powell and Pressburger".[13]

Accolades

In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list.[14] The film received eight Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020.[15]

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Result	Ref(s)
Berlin International Film Festival	20 February – 1 March 2020	FIPRESCI Prize (Forum)	Matthew Rankin	Won	[16]
Canadian Screen Awards	28 May 2020	Best Motion Picture	Ménaïc Raoul, Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette	Nominated	[15][17]
		Best Actor	Dan Beirne	Nominated
		Best Director	Matthew Rankin	Nominated
		Best Original Screenplay		Nominated
		Best Art Direction/Production Design	Dany Boivin	Won
		Best Costume Design	Patricia McNeil	Won
		Best Hair	Nermin Grbic	Won
		John Dunning Best First Feature	Matthew Rankin	Nominated
Directors Guild of Canada	26 October 2019	DGC Discovery Award		Nominated	[18]
Los Cabos International Film Festival	13 – 17 November 2019	Best Film		Won	[19]
Prix Iris	10 June 2020	Best Director		Nominated	[20][21]
		Best Art Direction	Dany Boivin	Won
		Best Sound	Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Sacha Ratcliffe, Lynne Trépanier	Nominated
		Best Editing	Matthew Rankin	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Patricia McNeil	Won
		Best Makeup	Adriana Verbert	Won
		Best Hairstyling	Nermin Grbic	Won
		Best First Film	Matthew Rankin	Nominated
Toronto International Film Festival	5–15 September 2019	Best Canadian First Feature Film		Won	[22]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle	7 January 2020	Best Canadian Film		Nominated	[23][24]
		Best Director of a Canadian Film		Nominated
		One to Watch		Won
		Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film		Nominated
		Best Actor in a Canadian Film	Dan Beirne	Won
		Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film	Louis Negin	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film	Catherine St-Laurent	Nominated
Grindhouse Paradise	3 – 5 September 2021	Audience Prize	Matthew Rankin	Nominated	[25]

References

External links

• The Twentieth Century at IMDb
• The Twentieth Century at Rotten Tomatoes

На других языках

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[de] The Twentieth Century

The Twentieth Century ist eine satirische Tragikomödie von Matthew Rankin, die im September 2019 im Rahmen des Toronto International Film Festivals ihre Premiere feierte. Es handelt sich um ein bizarres Biopic über den ehemaligen kanadischen Premierminister William Lyon Mackenzie King, der sein Leben lang darauf vorbereitet wurde, eines Tages Premierminister Kanadas zu werden, und auf seinem Weg eine Reihe beruflicher aber auch zwischenmenschlicher Demütigungen hinnehmen musste.

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- [en] The Twentieth Century (film)

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