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Madame Curie

"MR. and MRS. MINIVER together again"

Poor physics student Marie is studying at the Sorbonne in 1890s Paris. One of the few women studying in her field, Marie encounters skepticism concerning her abilities, but is eventually offered a research placement in Pierre Curie's lab. The scientists soon fall in love and embark on a shared quest to extract, from a particular type of rock, a new chemical element they have named radium. However, their research puts them on the brink of professional failure.

Top Cast

  • Greer Garson

    Greer Garson

    Marie Curie

  • Walter Pidgeon

    Walter Pidgeon

    Pierre Curie

  • Henry Travers

    Henry Travers

    Eugene Curie

  • Albert Bassermann

    Albert Bassermann

    Professor Jean Perot

  • Robert Walker

    Robert Walker

    David Le Gros

  • C. Aubrey Smith

    C. Aubrey Smith

    Lord Kelvin

  • May Whitty

    May Whitty

    Madame Eugene Curie

  • Victor Francen

    Victor Francen

    President of University

  • Elsa Bassermann

    Elsa Bassermann

    Madame Perot

Overview

Poor physics student Marie is studying at the Sorbonne in 1890s Paris. One of the few women studying in her field, Marie encounters skepticism concerning her abilities, but is eventually offered a research placement in Pierre Curie's lab. The scientists soon fall in love and embark on a shared quest to extract, from a particular type of rock, a new chemical element they have named radium. However, their research puts them on the brink of professional failure.

Rating

7.2 / 10
51 Reviews
1 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    7 Jul 6, 2025

    Fresh from their successful pairing in “Mrs Miniver”, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon join forces for a melodrama about the French scientists who worked tirelessly to discover radium. Why, you might ask? Well, their friend had alerted them to the fact that a certain rock he found is capable of glowing in the dark? They know it isn’t one of the already identified elements and so Pierre Curie and his research assistant and soon to be wife Marie set about trying to get to the bottom of things. This is an onerous process with little backing from their peers, and indeed when Mme. Curie starts to see some ill effects that could suggest cancer, they begin to wonder if they shouldn’t just abandon the whole thing. Rather intuitively, though, they conclude that if this substance can kill healthy cells then maybe it can also nobble malevolent ones too? Now what ensues is actually quite a tough film to watch as their manual labours and sacrifices are really quite powerfully portrayed amidst frozen and rudimentary conditions in a glorified shed. There’s a solid chemistry between the two stars, the film’s production design is convincing and it obliquely looks at issues of sexism and establishment scepticism too. Speculative, sure, but quite enjoyable.

Trailers & Clips

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