Century

Paul Reisner is a young doctor at the beginning of his career, in England at the turn of the century. He goes to London to do some research. Under the guidance of the charismatic Professor Mandry, Paul and a group of young men are working towards what they hope will turn out to be important scientific discoveries. His world falls apart when he makes an amazing discovery about the Professor.

COMMENTARY
Century takes place around the turn of the century. The last one, that is, but the complex of problems that people are forced to consider in the film might as well be contemporary. A couple of young doctors are tucked away in a small private institute where they carry out pioneering medical research, which turns out to be a mixed blessing. Their science is new and not held in any higher esteem. Experiments are carried out with various results on volunteers, mainly destitute people.
In an era of cloned mandarins, and aspen trees with genes interbred with cod from the Arctic Ocean, you may not be easily surprised, apart from the strangely ill-considered insanity which occasionally seems to motivate certain types of research, that is.
How to stop the poor from breeding is only one subject discussed by some of the doctors at the institute. The protagonist Paul Reisner (Clive Owen) represents the good
classical values of the conflict. The authoritarian Professor Mandry (Charles Dance) represents the evil side of the institute. As the son of a Romanian Jew, Paul also falls prey to the anti-Semitism of modern times when the police authorities start to investigate his background.
It may seem a bit peculiar that Stephen Poliakoff, by many seen as one of the finest interpreters of contemporary Britain, makes a film such as Century, a movie set in the past. But despite the fact that the film takes place 93 years ago, there is a tangible contemporary feel to it. The vitality in both settings and characters and the liberating
lack of nostalgia and sentimentality give Century a sense of here and now. The turn of the century becomes an era when people were kissing openly in the park in the middle of the day, far from the stiff puritanism which usually permeates British films set in this era. The people here are made of flesh and blood. When Paul meets Clara (Miranda Richardson) they have sex without either of them throwing up out of anxiety, or committing suicide as a result. They don't even get married.
Century takes place in a multi-dimensional world. A world of tea rooms and populated garbage dumps. But it is also a world in action. A new century stands before the door and there is hope for the future. ~,
Ylva Gustavsson

Medverkande
Clive Owen, Miranda Richardson: Producent
Therese Pickard: Manus
Stephen Poliakoff: Foto
Witold Stok: Musik
Michael Gibbs: Talat språk
English