''The Mills of Power'' (french: Les Tisserands du pouvoir) is a Canadian television miniseries, directed by Claude Fournier. A historical drama, the film centres on the historical phenomenon of French Canadians who emigrated to
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
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
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsocket lies directly south of ...
,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
. The story is centred mainly on three families: the working class Lamberts, who worked in the dying
textile mill
Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
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
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
who owned the mills and exploited the Québécois immigrants.
The cast included many of the most noted Quebec actors, including
Gratien Gélinas
Gratien Gélinas, (December 8, 1909 – March 16, 1999) was a Canadian writer, playwright, actor, director, producer and administrator who is considered one of the founders of modern Canadian theatre and film.
His major works include ''Tit ...
,
Rémy Girard
Rémy Girard (born August 10, 1950) is a Canadian actor and former television host from Montreal, Quebec.
Acting career
Girard played the role of Rémy, the main character, who is dying of terminal cancer, in the Canadian film ''The Barbarian In ...
,
Dominique Michel Dominique Michel, OC, CQ (born ''Aimée Sylvestre''; September 24, 1932 in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec) is a Quebec comedian, actress, singer and artist.
Biography
She began her career in cabarets performing songs written by Raymond Lévesque and sub ...
Andrée Pelletier
Andrée Pelletier (born August 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress, screenwriter and film director. As an actress, she is a five-time Canadian Film Award and Genie Award nominee, receiving nominations for Best Actress at the 29th Canadian Film Award ...
Paul Almond
Paul Almond (April 26, 1931 – April 9, 2015) was a Canadian television and motion picture screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is most known for being the director of the first film in the '' Up'' series.
Life and career
Paul A ...
and
André Melançon
André Melançon (February 18, 1942 - August 23, 2016) was a Canadian actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for directing and writing several installments in the Tales for All series of children's films.
Career
The versatile André M ...
, as well as English Canadian actors John Wildman,
Vlasta Vrána
Vlasta Vrána (born 1950), is a Canadian actor of Czech descent.
Life and career
Vrána, born to Czech parents in Norway, moved to Canada at age four. He made his feature-film debut in Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg's '' Shivers''. Vrána ...
and 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, and on CBC Television in 1990. Fournier also published a novelization of the miniseries concurrently with the theatrical debut.
The series received two Genie Award nominations at the 10th Genie Awards in 1989, for
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
(Fournier, Michel Cournot and Marie-José Raymond) and Best Costume Design (Christine Cost, Michèle Hamel)."Genie award nominees: complete list". ''
Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...
'', February 14, 1989. The series won four
Prix Gémeaux
The Prix Gémeaux () or Gémeaux Awards honour achievements in Canadian television and digital media that is broadcast in French. It has been sponsored by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television since 1987. Introduced as a French-language equ ...
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).