''Threshold'' is a 1981 Canadian
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
/
science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
directed by
Richard Pearce and starring
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films ''Citizen X'' (1995) an ...
and
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and '' Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels.
...
. The film was nominated for ten
Genie Awards
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
and won two of them. Sutherland also won best actor at the 1982
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...
for his performance.
''Threshold'' was filmed on location at the then newly constructed Ottawa General Hospital.
Plot
Respected cardiac surgeon Dr. Thomas Vrain performs a risky operation to provide a patient with the first
artificial heart
An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in the case that a heart transplant (from a deceased human or, experi ...
ever implanted in a human subject.
He and his colleague, research scientist Dr. Aldo Gehring, consider the risks and weigh the odds as time runs out for Carol Severance, the patient. Severance will die unless the experimental surgery is done quickly and succeeds.
Cast
*
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films ''Citizen X'' (1995) an ...
as Dr. Thomas Vrain
*
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and '' Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels.
...
as Dr. Aldo Gehring
*
Sharon Acker
Sharon Acker (born April 2, 1935) is a Canadian film, stage, and television actress and model. Acker appeared mostly on television in Canada and the United States from 1956 to 1992. She played Della Street, Perry Mason's loyal secretary, in ''Th ...
as Tilla Vrain
*
Mare Winningham
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...
as Carol Severance
*
John Marley
John Marley (born Mortimer Marlieb, October 17, 1907 – May 22, 1984) was an American actor who was known for his role as Phil Cavalleri in '' Love Story'' and as Jack Woltz—the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head ...
as Edgar Fine
*
Allan Nicholls as Dr. Basil Rents
References
External links
*
*
1981 films
Canadian science fiction films
English-language Canadian films
Films directed by Richard Pearce
Films scored by Maribeth Solomon
Films scored by Micky Erbe
1980s English-language films
1980s Canadian films
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