Adoration Information

Adoration is a 2008 Canadian drama film directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Rachel Blanchard, Scott Speedman and Devon Bostick. It is Egoyan's first feature film since Where The Truth Lies.

The film was first shown at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Adoration won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and was nominated for the Palme d'Or. It won "Best Canadian Feature Film " Special Jury Citation" at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. The film had its U.S. premiere in April 2009 at the San Francisco International Film Festival and went into U.S. release on May 8, 2009.

Plot

High school French teacher Sabine reads to her class as a translation exercise a French newspaper report of a terrorist who planted a bomb in the airline luggage of his pregnant girlfriend. If the bomb had detonated, it would have killed her, her unborn child, and many others, but it was discovered in time by Israeli security personnel. Egoyan based the story partly on the 1986 Hindawi affair.

In the course of translating, Simon, who lives with his uncle Tom, imagines that the news item is his own family's story: that his Palestinian father Sami was the terrorist, the woman was his mother Rachel, an accomplished violinist, and he was her unborn child. Years ago, Sami crashed the family car, killing both himself and Rachel, making Simon an orphan. Influenced by his grandfather, who disliked Sami (the audience sees Simon filming him with his mobile phone when he talks to him), Simon has always feared that the crash was not an accident but intentional.

Sabine asks him to develop the story as a drama exercise, to read it to the class, and for dramatic effect to pretend that it really happened. He does so, and discussions evolve on the Internet about the story. Sabine is fired for making Simon lie.

Tom, who is a tow truck driver, tows Sabine's car away. Sabine follows him in a taxi, and by mobile phone she offers him a meal in a restaurant. Later she reveals to him that she had been married to Sami for 5 years, until Sami met Rachel.

Cast

• Rachel Blanchard as Rachel
• Scott Speedman as Tom
• Devon Bostick as Simon
• Arsinée Khanjian as Sabine
• Kenneth Welsh as Morris
• Noam Jenkins as Sami
• Katie Boland as Hannah
• Geraldine O'Rawe as Carole
• Louca Tassone as Young Simon
• Yuval Daniel as Security Officer
• Jeremy Wright as Delivery Guy
• Thomas Hauff as Nick
• Martin Roach as Car Owner
• Ieva Lucs as Berating Woman
• Hailee Sisera as Jennifer

Production

The Internet discussion sessions featured in the film were edited from a two to four hour improvised group discussion on the Internet by several of Egoyan's friends and fellow artists.

Reception

The film received mostly positive reviews. As of December 7, 2010, 61% of 95 critics listed by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes had given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.1/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 19 reviews.