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Maelstrom (2000)

Name: Maelstrom
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Genre: drama film
Duration: 87 min
Rating: 6.7

Maelström is a 2000 Canadian absurdist psychological drama film written and directed by Denis Villeneuve. It stars Marie-Josée Croze as a depressed young businesswoman who becomes romantically involved with the son of a man she killed in a hit-and-run accident. Employing fantasy and comedic elements, Maelström is narrated by a talking fish.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve · Shot by André Turpin · Cut by Richard Comeau · Music by Pierre Desrochers · 87 min

How it was made

The film's fish narrator was created using animatronics, with the design based on a trout but reworked to resemble a prehistoric species with large black eyes and a sad, gaping mouth.
Villeneuve conceived of a fish as the narrator after suffering food poisoning from a trout dinner, having also considered and rejected a talking dog based on a puppy his family had recently adopted.
Principal photography ran in Montreal from September to November 1999.

Behind the scenes

Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End Anatomy of a Scene The Maelstrom — Special Features · 19 min
Anatomy of a Scene - The Maelstrom | Pirates of the Caribbean Behind the Scenes — Pajasek99 · 19 min
Enter the Maelstrom | Pirates of the Caribbean Behind the Scenes — Pajasek99 · 9 min

Elsewhere

More by Denis Villeneuve

Cleopatra
Bond 26
REW FFWD — 1994
Cosmos — 1996
August 32nd on Earth — 1998
Happiness Bound — 2007
Next Floor — 2008
Polytechnique — 2009
Incendies — 2010
Rated R for Nudity — 2011
Enemy — 2013
Prisoners — 2013
Sicario — 2015
Arrival — 2016
Blade Runner 2049 — 2017
Dune — 2021
Dune: Part Two — 2024
Dune: Part Three — 2026
Rendezvous with Rama — 2027

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