''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 b ...

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, interstel ...

directed by Richard Pearce and starring Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum. The film was nominated for ten Genie Awards in 1983 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 becom ...

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, exper ...

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 as Dr. Thomas Vrain * Jeff Goldblum 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 '' ...

as Tilla Vrain * Mare Winningham as Carol Severance * John Marley as Edgar Fine *

Allan Nicholls Allan F. Nicholls (born April 8, 1945) is a Canadian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, composer and musician. He was nominated for both a BAFTA and WGA award for his writing on the 1978 film '' A Wedding''. He is often credite ...

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 {{1980s-Canada-film-stub