The Decline of the American Empire

1986 ""

The Decline of the American Empire

7.1 | 1h41m | en | Drama

Four very different Montreal university teachers gather at a rambling country house to prepare a dinner. Remy (married), Claude (a homosexual), Pierre (involved with a girlfriend) and Alain (a bachelor) discuss sex, the female body and their affairs with them. Meanwhile, their four female guests, Louise (Remy's wife of 15 years), Dominique (a spinster), Diane (a divorcée) and Danielle (Pierre's girlfriend) are spending the time at a downtown health gym. They also discuss sex, the female body and, naturally, men. Later in the evening, they finally meet at the country house and have dinner. A ninth guest, named Mario, who used to know Diane, drops in on the group for some talk and has a surprise of his own.

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7.1 | 1h41m | en | Drama , Comedy | More Info

Released: June. 19,1986 | Released Producted By: Corporation Image M & M , Societe Radio Cinema Country: Canada Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:

Synopsis

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Cast

Dominique Michel , Dorothée Berryman , Louise Portal

Director

Gaudeline Sauriol

Producted By

Corporation Image M & M , Societe Radio Cinema

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Trailers & Images

Cast

Dominique Michel

as Dominique

The Barbarian Invasions Louis 19, King of the Airwaves The Decline of the American Empire

Dorothée Berryman

as Louise

Forgotten Flowers Every Jack Has a Jill The Barbarian Invasions Dice Winter Lily Ladies Room Scanners II: The New Order Back Stab A Paper Wedding

Louise Portal

as Diane

Confessions of a Hitman The Guide to the Perfect Family F*ckin' Coffin! The Mother Eagle And the Birds Rained Down Paul à Québec Angel at Sea Heading South The Barbarian Invasions

Reviews

calvinnme This is a very well done French-Canadian film about eight friends meeting for a dinner party out in the country. Three middle-aged men and a one young man are already at the manor where the dinner will take place, preparing the meal and discussing their sex lives. The remaining party guests, three middle-aged women and one young woman, are spending the day at the gym, exercising and discussing their sex lives.Eventually they meet up at the country manor for dinner, and the conversation continues. While this may sound like not much happens, the film is never boring, and the direction by Denys Arcand keeps the viewer visually interested. I'm also keeping the character descriptions purposely vague, as their relationships to one another are revealed slowly as the film progresses. The dialogue is frank, funny and sharp, and all eight characters are fully-drawn human beings. I especially like the notion that these eight characters who seem to speak non-stop and at times overshare in the extreme, can't seem to honestly communicate when it matters most in their lives.The title refers to a historical adage that when members of a given society begin to think about their own individual happiness above every other concern, that society is doomed. The characters' romantic navel-gazing and at times destructive pursuit of happiness seems to signal our own societal sunset. But don't let that heavy thought steer you away from the film, as it's brilliantly acted and well worth a look.The sequel, "The Barbarian Invasions", made 17 years later, is also very worthwhile.

Michael Neumann This French Canadian talkfest will be a feast for intellectuals, but a test of endurance for anyone else, showing a group of University professors and their spouses discussing, explicitly and at great length, their relationships and sex lives, at first separately and later together over dinner. The men brag, the women ridicule, and there isn't a sympathetic character in the bunch. It's certainly a handsome film, but obviously not for all tastes; except for a single apt metaphor equating men with insects and women with reptiles the whole charade is too cold and uninvolving. All the highbrow philosophical cud chewing can't disguise the fact that writer director Denys Arcand is simply peddling the same, standard ammunition that has always fueled the battle between the sexes.

JackBenjamin Edward Gibbon would be proud.Arcand crafts a wonderful narrative here with four main elements: The men talking, the women talking, men and women together, and flashbacks. The men are philanderers, obsessed with sex, cooking a decadent meal, teaching the youth their unholy ways. The women are just as obsessed but with nominally different sensibilities. Notice how they're working out the whole time, concerned with body, sustaining life, attracting men.When they come together of course decorum is king, and only through flashbacks do we get punctuations of truth.This is a very good movie and a pleasure to watch. Arcand manages to write with a playwright's ear and a film director's brain. But, without Barbarian Invasions it really is an incomplete experience.

Pro Jury Sex is a most noteworthy aspect of existence. It is perhaps the most interesting activity there is between birth and death. LE DECLIN DE L'EMPIRE AMERICAIN studies human sexuality in a dry and boring manner. Actually, worse than being simply boring, seeing nude 40-year-olds is, well, unpleasant.I guess there is some shock value in having adults as old as our parents talk about sex, but after twenty minutes, this stops being interesting. Perhaps if the characters were all 20 years younger, the film would be more visually captivating.LE DECLIN DE L'EMPIRE AMERICAIN is not worth the time.