BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017)

Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.

Director:

Robin Campillo

Writers:

Robin Campillo, Philippe Mangeot (collaboration on screenplay)

Stars:

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel

47 wins & 52 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart	...	Sean
Arnaud Valois	...	Nathan
Adèle Haenel	...	Sophie
Antoine Reinartz	...	Thibault
Félix Maritaud	...	Max
Ariel Borenstein	...	Jérémie
Aloïse Sauvage	...	Eva
Simon Bourgade	...	Luc
Médhi Touré	...	Germain
Simon Guélat	...	Markus
Coralie Russier	...	Muriel
Catherine Vinatier	...	Hélène
Théophile Ray	...	Marco
Saadia Bentaïeb	...	Mère Sean
Jean-François Auguste	...	Fabien

Storyline

Early 1990s. With AIDS having already claimed countless lives for nearly ten years, Act up-Paris activists multiply actions to fight general indifference. Nathan, a newcomer to the group, has his world shaken up by Sean, a radical militant, who throws his last bits of strength into the struggle.

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Plot Keywords:

hiv awareness | act up | paris france | euthanasia | death from aids | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook [UK] Official site [Germany]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

23 August 2017 (France)

Also Known As:

BPM (Beats Per Minute)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,566, 22 October 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$125,189, 29 March 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films de Pierre, France 3 Cinéma, Page 114

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Campillo and co-screenwriter Philippe Mangeot drew on their personal experiences with ACT UP in developing the story. One scene was also based on Campillo's experience with the AIDS epidemic, as he said "I've dressed up a boyfriend on his death".

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Goofs

After the incursion in the lab, the group gathered in the subway; in the background we can see a Score games ad. Score games first shop was opened in 1992 in Paris, although the action is supposed to be set in 1989.

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Connections

Referenced in Guépardes: Un Lion ne meurt pas, il dort (2018)

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Soundtracks

Smalltown Boy
Lyrics and Music by Steve Bronski, Larry Steinbachek and Jimmy Somerville (as James Somerville)
Performed by Bronski Beat
Remixed by Arnaud Rebotini

User Reviews

Ashes are Edible

A story with a particular historical moment in mind has been rendered timeless. A random first generation Gameboy generates a temporal whiplash, as the film's events are portrayed as contemporary catastrophes. Silence equates to death, and the team meeting in a college lecture hall has dwindling numbers, yet deafening shouts.

A prejudicial plague scorches France, bringing an already tight-knit community into a blood brotherhood. ACT UP is a guerrilla group full of eventual corpses. The HIV epidemic has threatened their love and survival. Pharmaceutical companies have cubical indifference as antidotes are sluggishly distributed by financial logistics.

As the non-violent vigilantes face just as many internal conflicts as press-generated woes, their operations grow in scale and creativity. Their weekly conferences have an intentional cadence complete with respectful snaps, hisses, and hand signals designed to facilitate the mutual understanding that has gone extinct beyond the university walls.

Sean is one of he founding members, and has some of the worst test results. He is the loudest in any given demonstration, and celebrates harder than all his peers. ACT UP is Sean's final lifeline, and his involvement resounds as a funeral dirge among a thunderous parade.

Campillo has delivered another dialogue driven barrage of human desperation. The sprinkling of establishing shots offer a reprieve from the claustrophobic disputes between the positives and the businessmen impartial to death. An important angle to an understated tragedy that shaped legislation in the most vital ways.