Sarah Polley

Alors qu’elle souffre depuis plusieurs années des séquelles d’une commotion cérébrale, Sarah Polley rencontre un médecin spécialiste qui lui recommande, pour guérir, de pratiquer les activités mêmes qui déclenchent ses symptômes. « Si vous ne devez retenir qu’une seule chose de notre entretien, c’est ceci : il faut courir vers le danger. » Ce conseil, la comédienne et réalisatrice en fera rapidement un mantra qui la guidera dans toutes les sphères de sa vie, au point de l’inciter à plonger dans son histoire personnelle pour l’examiner sous un nouveau jour. …

The soundtrack to Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter boasts an expansive folk/international mix tailored made for the film's atmospheric study of loss and guilt. Featuring original material by Mychael Danna, the disc spotlights the wan vocal talents of Sarah Polley (who also appears in the film and contributes some music and lyrics here) enveloped in lean and ethereal backdrops; the accompaniment comes courtesy of the Toronto Consort and a combo that includes Danna on Harmonium and Kim Deschamps on pedal steel. Also on hand are ney player extraordinaire Hossein Omoumi and flautist Ron Korb, both of whom fit snug on the many Middle Eastern-flavored sides they guest on. In addition to the Danna material, the soundtrack also features numbers by Jane Siberry and the Tragically Hip.

A film that excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers.

A film that excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers.

Director Terry Gilliam adroitly applies his Monty Python sensibilities upon the "career" of famed German prevaricator Baron von Munchausen. Played herein by John Neville, the baron is seen quelling a war that he himself started, flying into the stratosphere on the back of a cannonball, ballooning to the moon, exploring the innards of a volcano, being swallowed by a whale….In short, all of Munchausen's fabulous lies are here presented as "truth," played out in full view of nonplussed witnesses Eric Idle, Charles McKeown, Jack Purvis, and Sarah Polley. Fringe benefits include several loving medium shots of jaybird-naked Uma Thurman as Boticelli's Venus and an extended unbilled cameo by Robin Williams – that is, by the head of Robin Williams – as the King of the Moon.