Science on Screen: WAGES OF FEAR

Watch Trailer Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Writer(s): Georges Arnaud (novel), Henri-Georges Clouzot (screenplay)
Cast: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli, Peter Van Eyck
Language: French

On March 22, the Athena Cinema will take place in a national evening of Science on Screen. Science on Screen℠ is a project of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Coolidge Corner Theater. The Science on Screen program pairs with a short talk with a scientist or technology expert. The free Science on Screen events are fun and engaging and offer dynamic speakers an unexpected jumping point to teach their field of expertise in a way that is accessible to a diverse audience.

The Athena’s Science on Screen program is a series of events that pairs feature films and documentaries with presentations by renown scientific experts and technological innovators. This year, we will be showing WAGES OF FEAR, a forgotten classic from 1953.

In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route to a faraway oil fire. The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot, presented in a complete HD digital restoration.

Before the film, Professor Kenneth L. Brown from the Department of Chemistry will give a presentation on the physiology of fear.