The Mills of Power

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The Mills of Power
French Les Tisserands du pouvoir
Written byClaude Fournier
Michel Cournot
Marie-José Raymond
Directed by Claude Fournier
Music byMartin Fournier
Normand Corbeil
Country of originCanada
Original languagesFrench
English
Production
Producers René Malo
Marie-José Raymond
CinematographyJohn Berrie
EditorsClaude Fournier
Yurij Luhovy
Production companiesCiné les Tisserands
Groupe Malofilm
Original release
Network Télévision de Radio-Canada
Release1989 (1989) –
1989 (1989)

The Mills of Power (French : Les Tisserands du pouvoir) is a Canadian television miniseries, directed by Claude Fournier. [1] A historical drama, the film centres on the historical phenomenon of French Canadians who emigrated to New England for work opportunities, tracing their gradual loss of socioeconomic status, political power and cultural identity through the story of a community of French Canadian Americans in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. [2] The story is centred mainly on three families: the working class Lamberts, who worked in the dying textile mills and clung strongly to their Québécois heritage; the more middle-class Fontaines, who integrated more successfully into mainstream American life; and the wealthy Roussels, an industrialist family from France who owned the mills and exploited the Québécois immigrants. [3]

The cast included many of the most noted Quebec actors, including Gratien Gélinas, Rémy Girard, Dominique Michel, Denise Filiatrault, Juliette Huot, Donald Pilon, Anne Létourneau, Andrée Pelletier, Michel Forget, Gabrielle Lazure, Olivette Thibault, Jocelyn Bérubé, Charlotte Laurier, Paul Almond and André Melançon, [4] as well as English Canadian actors John Wildman, Vlasta Vrána and John Boylan as anglophone characters.

The series premiered theatrically in 1988 as two films, Les Tisserands du pouvoir and Les Tisserands du pouvoir 2: La révolte, before airing as a six-part miniseries on Télévision de Radio-Canada in 1989, [5] and on CBC Television in 1990. [6] Fournier also published a novelization of the miniseries concurrently with the theatrical debut. [7]

The series received two Genie Award nominations at the 10th Genie Awards in 1989, for Best Original Screenplay (Fournier, Michel Cournot and Marie-José Raymond) and Best Costume Design (Christine Cost, Michèle Hamel). [8] The series won four Prix Gémeaux in 1990, for Best Miniseries, Best Direction in a Drama Series (Fournier), Best Writing in a Drama Series (Raymond, Fournier, Cournot) and Best Actor in a Drama Series (Forget).

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References

  1. ↑ "Tisserands du pouvoir, Les – Film de Claude Fournier". Films du Québec, April 30, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Homespun saga promises to draw homegrown crowd". Montreal Gazette , October 23, 1988.
  3. ↑ "Claude Fournier's Les Tisserands du pouvoir Part I, II (La Revolte)". Cinema Canada , March/April 1989.
  4. ↑ "U.S. mills ground up French identity". Toronto Star , October 28, 1987.
  5. ↑ "Weaving a historical epic out of Quebec's cultural fears". The Globe and Mail , November 26, 1988.
  6. ↑ Antonia Zerbisias, "Mills Of Power tells timely story of economic exile". Toronto Star , February 4, 1990.
  7. ↑ "Fate of Quebeckers in New England". Ottawa Citizen , December 10, 1988.
  8. ↑ "Genie award nominees: complete list". Vancouver Sun , February 14, 1989.


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