Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Paris, in the early 1990s: a group of young activists is desperately tied to finding the cure against an unknown lethal disease. They target the pharmaceutical labs that are retaining potential cures, and multiply direct actions, with the hope of saving their lives as well as the ones of future generations.
BPM (Beats per Minute) is a raw, emotionally devastating portrait of ACT UP Paris in the early 1990s. The plot balances procedural activism with intimate human drama with rare skill, weaving collective political struggle and personal love story seamlessly. The ensemble acting is uniformly exceptional, with Nahuel Pérez Biscayart delivering a career-defining performance of extraordinary emotional range. The cinematography is competent and often handheld-intimate but not especially distinctive. Novelty is solid — the film occupies well-trodden AIDS-era drama territory, but Campillo's dual focus on political mechanics and bodily vulnerability gives it a distinct voice. The ending is genuinely harrowing and cathartic, one of the most emotionally earned conclusions in recent French cinema.