# The Mills of Power

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Mills_of_Power
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Mills_of_Power.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mills_of_Power
> Source revision: 1330050553
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

The Mills of Power French Les Tisserands du pouvoir Written by Claude Fournier Michel Cournot Marie-José Raymond Directed by Claude Fournier Music by Martin Fournier Normand Corbeil Country of origin Canada Original languages French English Production Producers René Malo Marie-José Raymond Cinematography John Berrie Editors Claude Fournier Yurij Luhovy Production companies Ciné les Tisserands Groupe Malofilm Original release Network Télévision de Radio-Canada Release 1989 (1989) – 1989 (1989)

***The Mills of Power*** ([French](/source/French_language): *Les Tisserands du pouvoir*) is a Canadian television miniseries, directed by [Claude Fournier](/source/Claude_Fournier_(filmmaker)).[1] A historical drama, the film centres on the historical phenomenon of [French Canadians](/source/French_Canadians) who emigrated to [New England](/source/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](/source/French_Canadian_Americans) in [Woonsocket](/source/Woonsocket%2C_Rhode_Island), [Rhode Island](/source/Rhode_Island).[2] The story is centred mainly on three families: the working class Lamberts, who worked in the dying [textile mills](/source/Textile_mill) 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](/source/France) who owned the mills and exploited the Québécois immigrants.[3]

The cast included many of the most noted Quebec actors, including [Gratien Gélinas](/source/Gratien_G%C3%A9linas), [Rémy Girard](/source/R%C3%A9my_Girard), [Dominique Michel](/source/Dominique_Michel), [Denise Filiatrault](/source/Denise_Filiatrault), [Juliette Huot](/source/Juliette_Huot), [Donald Pilon](/source/Donald_Pilon_(actor)), [Anne Létourneau](/source/Anne_L%C3%A9tourneau), [Andrée Pelletier](/source/Andr%C3%A9e_Pelletier), [Michel Forget](/source/Michel_Forget), [Gabrielle Lazure](/source/Gabrielle_Lazure), [Olivette Thibault](/source/Olivette_Thibault), [Jocelyn Bérubé](/source/Jocelyn_B%C3%A9rub%C3%A9), [Charlotte Laurier](/source/Charlotte_Laurier), [Paul Almond](/source/Paul_Almond) and [André Melançon](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Melan%C3%A7on),[4] as well as English Canadian actors [John Wildman](/source/John_Wildman_(actor)), [Vlasta Vrána](/source/Vlasta_Vr%C3%A1na) and [John Boylan](/source/John_Boylan_(Canadian_actor)) 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](/source/T%C3%A9l%C3%A9vision_de_Radio-Canada) in 1989,[5] and on [CBC Television](/source/CBC_Television) in 1990.[6] Fournier also published a [novelization](/source/Novelization) of the miniseries concurrently with the theatrical debut.[7]

The series received two [Genie Award](/source/Genie_Award) nominations at the [10th Genie Awards](/source/10th_Genie_Awards) in 1989, for [Best Original Screenplay](/source/Canadian_Screen_Award_for_Best_Screenplay) (Fournier, [Michel Cournot](/source/Michel_Cournot) and Marie-José Raymond) and [Best Costume Design](/source/Canadian_Screen_Award_for_Best_Costume_Design) (Christine Cost, Michèle Hamel).[8] The series won four [Prix Gémeaux](/source/Prix_G%C3%A9meaux) 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

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Tisserands du pouvoir, Les – Film de Claude Fournier"](https://www.filmsquebec.com/films/tisserands-du-pouvoir-claude-fournier/). *Films du Québec*, April 30, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "Homespun saga promises to draw homegrown crowd". *[Montreal Gazette](/source/Montreal_Gazette)*, October 23, 1988.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** "Claude Fournier's Les Tisserands du pouvoir Part I, II (La Revolte)". *[Cinema Canada](/source/Cinema_Canada)*, March/April 1989.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** "U.S. mills ground up French identity". *[Toronto Star](/source/Toronto_Star)*, October 28, 1987.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** "Weaving a historical epic out of Quebec's cultural fears". *[The Globe and Mail](/source/The_Globe_and_Mail)*, November 26, 1988.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Antonia Zerbisias](/source/Antonia_Zerbisias), "Mills Of Power tells timely story of economic exile". *[Toronto Star](/source/Toronto_Star)*, February 4, 1990.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** "Fate of Quebeckers in New England". *[Ottawa Citizen](/source/Ottawa_Citizen)*, December 10, 1988.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** "Genie award nominees: complete list". *[Vancouver Sun](/source/Vancouver_Sun)*, February 14, 1989.

## External links

- [*The Mills of Power*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096276/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

This article related to a Canadian film of the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

- [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:1980s-Canada-film-stub)
- [t](/source/Template_talk%3A1980s-Canada-film-stub)
- [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:1980s-Canada-film-stub)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Mills of Power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mills_of_Power) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mills_of_Power?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.