# The Twentieth Century (film)

The Twentieth Century is a 2019 Canadian surrealist black comedy film written and directed by Matthew Rankin in his directorial debut. The film presents a fictionalized portrait of the rise to power of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King as played by Dan Beirne. It won three Canadian Screen Awards.

## Historical divergence

The film is not a realistic or literally accurate depiction of Canadian history, instead mixing and matching elements of real history with invented fantasia in a stylized manner reminiscent of the films of Guy Maddin, and taking place largely on deliberately unrealistic sets influenced by German Expressionism, 1940s melodrama and wartime propaganda films. Rankin himself described it as "one part Canadian Heritage Minute and one part ayahuasca death trip".
Although most of the film's major characters are at least loosely based on real Canadian historical figures, not all of their careers actually coexisted. In reality, although Mackenzie King and Arthur Meighen already knew and disliked each other by 1899, neither man had even entered electoral politics at all yet, let alone being candidates for Prime Minister, as of that time — while the real Bert Harper was never a political rival to either man, but merely a government bureaucrat. The real Lord Minto, further, was a benign figure who distinguished himself in Canadian history primarily as a patron of amateur sports, and his term as Governor General had already ended by the time either King or Meighen were in politics — whereas Lord Muto, his fictionalized portrayal in the film, is an Orwellian dictator with much more control over political affairs than Canadian Governors General actually have, who oversees Canadian politics in a manner more reminiscent of The Hunger Games than the real Canadian electoral process, and who is openly conspiring to draw the Canadian military much more deeply into the Boer War. Minto really did have daughters named Ruby and Violet, although both were only teenagers, not adult women, as of 1899. Joseph-Israël Tarte was also a real political figure who opposed the Boer War, although his political career did not overlap with King's or Meighen's.
According to Rankin, "I wanted everything to feel artificial all the time. The conceit of the film is that Canada might just be totally fake and in this person’s head. And the film is about his head. Everything in the film is drawn from Mackenzie King’s diary and reprocessed. I describe it as a nightmare that he might have had in 1899." He has also described the film as a satire on the overly earnest way that Canadian history is often presented in film and television, contrasting it against both Heritage Minutes and Sullivan Entertainment costume dramas.
The film also makes use of both cross-gender acting, with three significant characters (King's mother, J. Israël Tarte and Lady Violet) portrayed by cross-gender performers in drag, and colour-blind casting, with two White Anglo-Saxon Protestant characters (Bert Harper and Dr. Wakefield) portrayed by Asian-Canadian actors. Rankin has described this aspect of the film by saying that "I wanted to take a school-play approach that you don't see so much in film for some reason. In a school play you can have a Filipino Captain von Trapp and a transgender Artful Dodger and it's fine. In film, I don’t understand why there’s this pressure to always link an actor to their exact demographic profile."

## Cast

* Dan Beirne as William Lyon Mackenzie King
* Catherine St-Laurent as Ruby Elliott
* Mikhaïl Ahooja as Henry Albert Harper
* Brent Skagford as Arthur Meighen
* Seán Cullen as Lord Muto, Governor General of Canada
* Louis Negin as Mother
* Kee Chan as Dr. Milton Wakefield
* Trevor Anderson as Mr. Justice Richardson
* Annie St-Pierre as J. Israël Tarte
* Richard Jutras as Father
* Sarianne Cormier as Nurse Lapointe
* Emmanuel Schwartz as Lady Violet

## Release

The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness program, and won the festival's award for Best Canadian First Feature Film. The film was subsequently screened at the 2019 Los Cabos International Film Festival, where it won the festival's Premio Competencia award.

### Critical reaction

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A silly, surreal treat for fans of absurd comedy, The Twentieth Century takes a sideways -- and often deliriously entertaining -- look at Canadian history." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Film critic Peter Howell described the film as "Monty Python by way of Rankin’s fellow Winnipegger Guy Maddin", while David Friend of The Canadian Press said the film "subverts the mystique around politicians by mocking patriotism, propaganda and Canadian identity."
For The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer described the film as "Guy Maddin meets John Waters by way of Powell and Pressburger".
In 2023, Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail named the film as one of the 23 best Canadian comedy films ever made.

### Accolades

In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. The film received eight Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020.
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Result |
| Berlin International Film Festival | 20 February – 1 March 2020 | FIPRESCI Prize (Forum) | Matthew Rankin | Won |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | Best Motion Picture | Ménaïc Raoul, Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | Best Actor | Dan Beirne | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | Best Director | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | Best Original Screenplay | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | Best Art Direction/Production Design | Dany Boivin | Won |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | Best Costume Design | Patricia McNeil | Won |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | Best Hair | Nermin Grbic | Won |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 28 May 2020 | John Dunning Best First Feature | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Directors Guild of Canada | 26 October 2019 | DGC Discovery Award | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Los Cabos International Film Festival | 13 – 17 November 2019 | Best Film | Matthew Rankin | Won |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best Director | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best Art Direction | Dany Boivin | Won |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best Sound | Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Sacha Ratcliffe, Lynne Trépanier | Nominated |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best Editing | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best Costume Design | Patricia McNeil | Won |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best Makeup | Adriana Verbert | Won |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best Hairstyling | Nermin Grbic | Won |
| Prix Iris | 10 June 2020 | Best First Film | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Toronto International Film Festival | 5–15 September 2019 | Best Canadian First Feature Film | Matthew Rankin | Won |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | 7 January 2020 | Best Canadian Film | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | 7 January 2020 | Best Director of a Canadian Film | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | 7 January 2020 | One to Watch | Matthew Rankin | Won |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | 7 January 2020 | Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | 7 January 2020 | Best Actor in a Canadian Film | Dan Beirne | Won |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | 7 January 2020 | Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film | Louis Negin | Nominated |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | 7 January 2020 | Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film | Catherine St-Laurent | Nominated |
| Grindhouse Paradise | 3 – 5 September 2021 | Audience Prize | Matthew Rankin | Nominated |