The Mills of Power

{{Infobox television | native_name = {{infobox name module|fr|Les Tisserands du pouvoir}} | image = | caption = | director = [[Claude Fournier (filmmaker)|Claude Fournier]] | producer = [[René Malo]] Marie-José Raymond | writer = Claude Fournier [[Michel Cournot]] Marie-José Raymond | starring = | music = Martin Fournier [[Normand Corbeil]] | cinematography = John Berrie | editor = Claude Fournier Yurij Luhovy | company = Ciné les Tisserands Groupe Malofilm | network = [[Télévision de Radio-Canada]] | first_aired = {{Start date|1989}} | last_aired = {{End date|1989}} | country = Canada | language = French English | budget = }}

'''''The Mills of Power''''' ({{langx|fr|Les Tisserands du pouvoir}}) is a Canadian television miniseries, directed by [[Claude Fournier (filmmaker)|Claude Fournier]].<ref>[https://www.filmsquebec.com/films/tisserands-du-pouvoir-claude-fournier/ "Tisserands du pouvoir, Les – Film de Claude Fournier"]. ''Films du Québec'', April 30, 2009.</ref> A historical drama, the film centres on the historical phenomenon of [[French Canadians]] who emigrated to [[New England]] for work opportunities, tracing their gradual loss of socioeconomic status, political power and cultural identity through the story of a community of [[French Canadian Americans]] in [[Woonsocket, Rhode Island|Woonsocket]], [[Rhode Island]].<ref>"Homespun saga promises to draw homegrown crowd". ''[[Montreal Gazette]]'', October 23, 1988.</ref> The story is centred mainly on three families: the working class Lamberts, who worked in the dying [[textile mill]]s and clung strongly to their Québécois heritage; the more middle-class Fontaines, who integrated more successfully into mainstream American life; and the wealthy Roussels, an industrialist family from [[France]] who owned the mills and exploited the Québécois immigrants.<ref>"Claude Fournier's Les Tisserands du pouvoir Part I, II (La Revolte)". ''[[Cinema Canada]]'', March/April 1989.</ref>

The cast included many of the most noted Quebec actors, including [[Gratien Gélinas]], [[Rémy Girard]], [[Dominique Michel]], [[Denise Filiatrault]], [[Juliette Huot]], [[Donald Pilon (actor)|Donald Pilon]], [[Anne Létourneau]], [[Andrée Pelletier]], [[Michel Forget]], [[Gabrielle Lazure]], [[Olivette Thibault]], [[Jocelyn Bérubé]], [[Charlotte Laurier]], [[Paul Almond]] and [[André Melançon]],<ref>"U.S. mills ground up French identity". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', October 28, 1987.</ref> as well as English Canadian actors [[John Wildman (actor)|John Wildman]], [[Vlasta Vrána]] and [[John Boylan (Canadian actor)|John Boylan]] as anglophone characters.

The series premiered theatrically in 1988 as two films, ''Les Tisserands du pouvoir'' and ''Les Tisserands du pouvoir 2: La révolte'', before airing as a six-part miniseries on [[Télévision de Radio-Canada]] in 1989,<ref>"Weaving a historical epic out of Quebec's cultural fears". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', November 26, 1988.</ref> and on [[CBC Television]] in 1990.<ref>[[Antonia Zerbisias]], "Mills Of Power tells timely story of economic exile". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', February 4, 1990.</ref> Fournier also published a [[novelization]] of the miniseries concurrently with the theatrical debut.<ref>"Fate of Quebeckers in New England". ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'', December 10, 1988.</ref>

The series received two [[Genie Award]] nominations at the [[10th Genie Awards]] in 1989, for [[Canadian Screen Award for Best Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] (Fournier, [[Michel Cournot]] and Marie-José Raymond) and [[Canadian Screen Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]] (Christine Cost, Michèle Hamel).<ref>"Genie award nominees: complete list". ''[[Vancouver Sun]]'', February 14, 1989.</ref> The series won four [[Prix Gémeaux]] in 1990, for Best Miniseries, Best Direction in a Drama Series (Fournier), Best Writing in a Drama Series (Raymond, Fournier, Cournot) and Best Actor in a Drama Series (Forget).

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0096276}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills of Power, The}} [[Category:1988 films]] [[Category:Canadian drama television films]] [[Category:Canadian historical drama films]] [[Category:1980s Canadian television miniseries]] [[Category:CBC Television original films]] [[Category:Ici Radio-Canada Télé original programming]] [[Category:Films directed by Claude Fournier]] [[Category:Films set in Rhode Island]] [[Category:1988 Canadian films]]