120 BPM

Original title: 120 battements par minute

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

17K

YOUR RATING

Catherine Vinatier, Adèle Haenel, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Saadia Bentaïeb, François Rabette, Coralie Russier, Antoine Reinartz, Aloïse Sauvage, Félix Maritaud, Théophile Ray, and Julien Herbin in 120 BPM (2017)

Play trailer1:53

2 Videos

57 Photos

Drama

Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.

Director
- Robin Campillo
Writers
- Robin Campillo
- Philippe Mangeot
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

17K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Robin Campillo
Writers
- Robin Campillo
- Philippe Mangeot
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 50 wins & 61 nominations

Trivia
Robin Campillo and co-screenwriter Philippe Mangeot drew on their personal experiences with ACT UP in developing the story. One scene was also based on Campillo's experience with the AIDS epidemic, as he said "I've dressed up a boyfriend on his death".

Goofs
After the incursion in the lab, in the background of the group gathered in the subway, a Score Games ad is visible. The first Score Games shop opened in 1992 in Paris, although the action is supposed to be set in 1989.

Quotes
[first lines]
[English subtitled version]
Sophie: [whispering] OK, let's go.
[from backstage, Sophie and her colleagues from ACT UP Paris storm the stage of the anti-AIDS conference]

Connections
Featured in D'après une histoire vraie: Act Up, la rage de vivre (2022)

Soundtracks
Smalltown Boy
Performed by Bronski Beat
Lyrics and Music by Steve Bronski, Larry Steinbachek and Jimmy Somerville (as James Somerville)
(c) Bronski Music Ltd.
(p) 1984 Warner Records 90 Ltd
Editions BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd.
With permission from Warner Music France, a Warner Music France Company, from Warner Chappell Music France and from BMG Rights Management France
Remixed by Arnaud Rebotini

User reviews41

Review

Featured review

8/10

The Horror of AIDS

First premiered at Cannes where it won a Grand Prix, it's an impotant story of AIDS epidemic throughout the 90s in Paris and the actions taken by ACT UP organization founded to fight the epidemics.

This film does a great job at showing the activism at its thriving and not so thriving stages and introducing us to the stories of people until, at some point, a romance takes place while movie doesn't loose its quality and starts balancing two narratives.

Great casting, directing, sound choices. I will be happy to see two main actors in many new films waiting to see the light of day. They are proven talented and capable of taking demanding roles like ones showed here.

I noticed some unusual and smart ways of using sex scenes to deepen the background of the story, the story of one, also the one of the many.

Techo music was the music of the epidemic, 120 beats per minute, but at some point, heartbeat dismiss the techno and takes over, while the blood river flows though the city of Paris.