''Threshold'' is a 1981 Canadian

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

directed by Richard Pearce, and starring Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum. It was nominated for ten

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculpt ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and won two of them. Sutherland also won best actor at the 1982

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (, KVIFF) is an annual film festival held in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern Eur ...

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 artificial organ, device that replaces the human heart, heart. Artificial hearts are typically used as a bridge to heart transplantation, but ongoing research aims to develop a device that could permanently replace the ...

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