Man on Wire (2008)
Man on Wire is a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center and is based on Philippe Petit’s book, To Reach the Clouds, which has recently been released in paperback with the new title Man on Wire. The film is crafted like a heist film, presenting rare footage of the preparations for the event and still photographs of the walk, alongside reenactments (with Paul McGill as the young Petit) and modern-day interviews with the participants.
It competed in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary and the World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary. In February 2009, the film won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Production
The film’s producer, Simon Chinn, first encountered Philippe Petit in 2005 on BBC Radio 4′s Desert Island Discs when he decided to pursue him for the film rights to his book, To Reach the Clouds. After months of discussion, Petit agreed with the conditions that he would play an active, collaborative part in the making of the film.
In an interview conducted during Man on Wire’s run at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, director James Marsh explained that he was drawn to the story in part because it immediately struck him as “a heist movie”. Marsh also commented that as a New Yorker himself, he saw the film as something to give back to the city. He said he hopes to hear people say that they will now always think of Petit and his performance when recalling the World Trade Center’s twin towers.
Responding to questioning as to why the towers’ destruction 27 years later was not mentioned in the film, Marsh explained that Philippe Petit’s act was “incredibly beautiful” and that it “would be unfair and wrong to infect his story with any mention, discussion or imagery of the Towers being destroyed.”
Reception
Man on Wire has won the prestigious Special Jury Award and Audience Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the International Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Standard Life Audience Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film has also won the Jury Prize and Audience Award in the World Cinema: Documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival. To date, Man on Wire is only the sixth film ever in the history of Sundance to pick up both top awards and the first from outside the US. In February 2009, the film won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 81st annual Oscars.
Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of the 137 reviews they have collected have been positive, making it “The Best of All Time” reviewed film on their site.
Soundtrack
Much of the film’s soundtrack is derived from the 2006 album, The Composer’s Cut Series Vol. II: Nyman/Greenaway Revisited.
1. Fish Beach – Michael Nyman (from Drowning by Numbers)
2. History Of The Insipid – Michael Nyman (from The Libertine)
3. Albatross – Fleetwood Mac
4. Dreams Of A Journey – Michael Nyman (from The Piano)
5. Time Lapse – Michael Nyman (from A Zed & Two Noughts)
6. The Disposition Of Linen – Michael Nyman (from The Draughtsman’s Contract)
7. A Fifth of Beethoven – Walter Murphy
8. Chasing Sheep Is Best Left To Shepherds – Michael Nyman (from The Draughtsman’s Contract)
9. An Eye For Optical Theory – Michael Nyman (from The Draughtsman’s Contract)
10. The Lark Ascending – English Northern Philharmonia (composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams)
11. A Ramble In St. James’s Park – Michael Nyman (from The Libertine)
12. Passage de L’Egalité – Michael Nyman (from La Traversée de Paris)
13. In The Hall Of The Mountain King – Philadelphia Orchestra (composed by Edvard Grieg)
14. Drowning By Number 2 – Michael Nyman (from Drowning by Numbers)
15. Trysting Fields/Sheep ‘n’ Tides – Michael Nyman (from Drowning by Numbers)
16. Memorial – Michael Nyman
17. Leaving Home (Opening Titles) – Josh Ralph
18. Leaving Home Sunday Exploration (End Credits) – Josh Ralph
19. Gnossienne No. 1 – Gheorghe Constantinescu (composed by Erik Satie)
20. Gymnopédie No.1 – Anne Queffélec (composed by Erik Satie)
Cast & Credits
- Directed by: James Marsh
- Produced by: Simon Chinn – Wall to Wall
- Starring: Philippe Petit
- Music by : Philippe PetitJosh Ralph (title theme), Michael Nyman
- Cinematography: Igor Martinovic
- Editing by: Jinx Godfrey
Other Information
- Distributed by: Magnolia Pictures (US) Icon (UK) Madman (Australia) Diaphana (France)
- Release dates: Sundance Film Festival: January 22, 2008; United States: July 15, 2008; Australia: October 16, 2008
- Running time: 90 min.
- Country: United Kingdom
- Language: English, French
Links
- Official website
- Man on Wire at the Internet Movie Database
- Man on Wire Q&A at IGN
- Man on Wire at Rotten Tomatoes
- Trailer
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[...] Man on Wire is a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center and is based on Philippe Petit’s book, To Reach the Clouds, which has recently been released in paperback … [...]