Adoration (2008)

For his French-class assignment, a high school student weaves his family history in a news story involving terrorism, and goes on to invite an Internet audience in on the resulting controversy.

Director:

Atom Egoyan

Writer:

Atom Egoyan

Stars:

Devon Bostick, Rachel Blanchard, Louca Tassone

3 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Devon Bostick	...	Simon
Rachel Blanchard	...	Rachel
Louca Tassone	...	Young Simon
Kenneth Welsh	...	Morris
Yuval Daniel	...	Security Agent
Scott Speedman	...	Tom
Jeremy Wright	...	Delivery Guy
Arsinée Khanjian	...	Sabine
Noam Jenkins	...	Sami
Thomas Hauff	...	Nick
Martin Roach	...	Car Owner
Ieva Lucs	...	Berating Woman
Katie Boland	...	Hannah
Hailee Sisera	...	Jennifer
Lia Bellefontaine	...	Student On-Line

Storyline

Simon, a Toronto high school student, has been raised by his maternal Uncle Tom since Simon's parents, Rachel and Sami, died in a car accident eight years ago. Tom, a tow truck driver, decided to move to the city into Rachel's house and assume the mortgage, something he could ill afford, largely not to disrupt Simon's life, but equally to get away from his and Rachel's father, Morris, an openly bigoted man. That upbringing has made Tom a sullen and angry man. Morris only recently passed away. Rachel and Sami met when she, a violinist, brought her instrument in to be serviced, Sami the repairman. Simon now owns his mother's expensive violin, which Tom would like to sell to help pay the mortgage and Simon's imminent university tuition. One day at school, Simon's French teacher Sabine reads a French newspaper story from several years ago as a translation exercise for the class, the story about a pregnant woman traveling to Israel, her then boyfriend who, unknown to her, planted a bomb in...

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Plot Keywords:

internet | high school student | student | french class | controversy | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the digital intermediate process had become an industry standard when this film was shot, Atom Egoyan wanted it to be color timed in the traditional photochemical way, as all his previous films had been. However, two reels ended up having to be timed digitally, due to dirt on the negative that had been introduced in the negative cutting stage.

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Goofs

In the scene at the end of the film at his grandfather's empty lake house, Simon first unloaded the wooden Christmas figures from his duffel bag onto a pile of firewood on the end of the dock. He then went into his grandfather's workshop and sawed the scroll off of his mother's violin. With his phone, he took a picture of the severed scroll in his hand with the dock in the background, but the wooden Christmas figures now appear in the middle of the dock.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Simon: You looked happy.
Sabine: He was. We were happy.
Simon: And then what happened?
Sabine: Then he met your mom.
Simon: You let him go.
Sabine: No, I never let him go.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Wolverine/Ghosts of Girlfriends Past/Battle for Terra (2009)

User Reviews

Extremely compelling film, with some production quriks

Every character is sympathetic, nobody is good or evil, instead showing everyone as a human being, no matter what our cultural differences are. The compelling performances(Bostick in particular) are slightly offset by an overuse of background music, in addition to the slightly non-linear structure taking some time to get used to. Despite the background music occasionally distracting from what's in front of you, Adoration is a compelling film, not just as a character study, but as an experience many will be familiar with.

People like me have come to expect thoughtful pieces of celluloid from filmmakers like Egoyan and he delivers once again, even with the film's minor technical flaws.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

Canada

Language:

English French Hebrew

Release Date:

24 April 2009 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Adoration

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$4,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$39,358, 10 May 2009

Gross USA:

$294,244

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$384,659

Company Credits

Production Co:

Serendipity Point Films, ARP Sélection, Ego Film Arts

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1