120 beats per minute (Arte): Is the movie inspired by a true story?

New activists are welcomed in the small amphitheater, where the AIDS-fighting association’s weekly general assemblies are held: Nathan among them. He has everything to learn. That evening, we interpret the final act of sprinkling fake blood and handcuffing the director of the French AIDS Department. Question: Have we crossed the limits? Argument is electric. Welcome to Act Up-Paris! Robin Campillo, to whom we owe the film ghostsIt could not begin more directly in its third feature film, which inspired the series (Canal+), dedicated to the association’s 1989 debut, whose devastating actions such as covering the Concorde obelisk with a giant pink are still remembered. condom. At the time, contracting AIDS (more than 35 million deaths worldwide) meant short-term doom. Triple therapy was not available. It was urgent to condemn the inertia of public authorities and speed up the investigation. That’s all that this movie full of life tells about the spectacular actions taken by activists in laboratories and institutions to plunder order, distribution, through meetings where we shared a free and often joyful word as well as shouted at each other. information and condoms in high schools…

a raw comment

Campillo, former activist of Act Up, wrote the screenplay based on the memories of the activists who left their mark on the group’s history. “All the contents of the general meetings were recorded. I also consulted the documents about the laboratories, so as not to call it nonsense, but it is very clear that my film is a fiction.A river movie that plunges into the heart of a collective adventure before narrowing down the birth of a love between Nathan played by Arnaud Valois (2h20, we didn’t see it pass!)Baby, Diaper) and Sean were commented on by attractive Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, an Argentine-based actor who is HIV-positive, living with anger and rage for life. We were able to see it two months after its release. 120 beats per minuteIn August 2017, she lent her enormous blue gaze to the shapeless soldier of the 14-18 war. goodbye there, by Albert Dupontel. Here, her talent blows the screen, with a passionate punch, eclipsing her playmates, including the impressive Adèle Haenel (Portrait of a Teenage Girl in Fire).

Right time

The title evokes the rapid pulse of the heart. It is also the soundtrack of home beat music in the early 90’s. It was composed by DJ Arnaud Rebotini, the pioneer and icon of French electronic music. He also signed the remix version. small town boy (1984), the hit of the Bronski Beat group and the iconic song of the movie. “It was a very powerful rallying point for my generation.”, explains Robin Campillo. An anthem of a time when the party is in full swing: dance floors to leave time behind.

120 beats per minute: Wednesday, 18 May at 20:55 at Arte

Isabelle Magnier