For three years, from 2009-11, French pulmonologist Irène Frachon took on one of France’s largest pharmaceutical companies to try and pull from the market a drug that she knew was killing her patients. Over 500 people died as a result of taking the diabetes drug Mediator, and most were women. 150 Milligrams examines how gender issues played a large part in the cover up. Sidse Babett Knudsen (The Duke of Burgundy) plays the real-life whistleblower—part surgeon, part force of nature—whose intense empathy demands justice, and director Emmanuelle Bercot brilliantly navigates the viewer through operating rooms, laboratories, and courtroom testimony. The result is a gripping film, as timely in America as it was in Europe. “Utterly absorbing all the way through, this showcase for Bercot’s skill with large casts and intellectually rigorous storytelling may be her best yet.” —The Hollywood Reporter
Director’s Biography
Emmanuelle Bercot: A prolific actress and director, Emmanuelle Bercot has starred in, directed, and written numerous films, and she was nominated for the Cannes Film Festival César Award for Best Actress in 2015 for the film Mon roi and Best Director and Screenwriter in the same year for Standing Tall. She is also a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. 150 Milligrams is her sixth feature.