Synopsis
„I once saw the film as work-in- progress at TIFF and I was captivated by the lyricism of Alex Iordăchescu a cineaste exiled from the country of realism where poetry doesn’t have a place any longer. With today’s premiere Cinepub corrects (one more) injustice, screening „The Childhood of Icarus”, a movie buried by the over reigning attention to the here-and- now.” (Lucian Georgescu). „The Childhood of Icarus” is the movie of a Romanian director educated in Switzerland, a film in which the cinema lovers can see Guillame Depardieu in what it was, according to Alex Iordăchescu, „the part of his life”, that of a lawyer without a leg, who directs all his hopes and power of selfdeception towards what it seems to be a revolutionary medical project.
Director: Alex Iordăchescu
Scriptwriter: Alex Iordăchescu, Marianne Brun, Marcel Beaulieu
Cast: Guillaume Depardieu, Alysson Paradis, Carlo Brandt, Sophie Lukasik, Doroteea Petre, Mădălina Constantin
Produced by: Alex Iordăchescu, Daniel Burlac, Ruxandra Zenide
Cinematography by: Marius Panduru
Film editing by: Cătălin F. Cristuțiu, Alex Iordăchescu
Year: 2009
Category: feature film
Genre: drama
Duration: 96 minutes
Subtitles: Romanian
Territories: –
212,380 – Cinepub viewers
PLOT SUMMARY
Jonathan Vogel would like to turn back the clock and undo the accident that led to his disability and destroyed his life. When he learns that Stivlas Karr, a well-known professor and geneticist, has developed a gene therapy for regenerating the human body, he makes an appointment with him for some clinical tests. But the therapy doesn’t go according to Professor Karr’s plan and leads to unexpected results. Jonathan, whose life is now in danger, has become aware that there is only one person who can help him: Alice, the professor’s daughter.
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The first feature of Alex Iordăchescu is also the last film of Guillame Depardieu, a film he contributed to the level of the script. It is an international coproduction, a complex movie that launches a number of questions regarding the progress of the technical-scientific research. The questions vary according to the part that every actor plays in the scenario of a medical treatment aimed to make the human being surpass its perishing nature.
The character, Jonathan Vogel, leaves himself in the hands of doctor Kratt who works on a cure of cells’ regeneration that would, ultimately, grow the patient his lost leg. Will the doctor stop playing God on time? Will the patient be able to accept his trauma, to interiorize his disability or will he, together with the doctor, take the step beyond the horizon of the myth? And if so, what’s going to be the price?
Because, although professor Kratt maintains there is no Faustian pact involved, the film follows the philosophical-narrative structure of such a pact. The acting of Guillame Depardieu, whose biographical data overlap to a great extent with the character’s, gives depth and a significant dose of human truth to the film.
A valuable recovery by the Cinepub platform in the list of Romanian films online.
Lines:
- World Premiere at Montreal International Film Festival – Canada, 2009
- Molodist International Film Festival, international competition, Kiev – Ukraine, 2009
- Aubagne International Film Festival, international competition – France, 2010
- Solothurn Film Festival – Switzerland, 2010
- Singapore Republic International Film Festival, international competition – 2010
- Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival – Switzerland, 2010
- Prague French Film Festival – Czech Republic, 2010
- International Francophone Film in Bratislava – Slovakia, 2010
- Transilvania Inernational Film Festival, Cluj – Romania, 2010
Awards:
Nominations:
- Quartz Award, Swiss Cinema Awards, Locarno – Switzerland, 2010
- Best Music, Gopo Awards – Romania, 2011
