- Actors: Dominique Michel, Dorothée Berryman, Louise Portal, Pierre Curzi, Rémy Girard
- Directors: Denys Arcand
- Writers: Denys Arcand
- Producers: Pierre Gendron, René Malo, Roger Frappier
- Language French
- Classification: 18
- Studio: Artificial Eye
- VHS Release Date: 23 Feb 2004
- Run Time: 101 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000055YX4
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 20,017 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
You've never seen a sex comedy quite like The Decline of the American Empire. That's because there's no sex in this comedy--just a lot of entertaining talk about it (and a few discreet flashbacks). The speakers are eight Montreal academics. For most of the film, the men--Rémy (Rémy Girard), Claude (Yves Jacques), Pierre (Pierre Curzi), and Alain (Daniel Brière)--fix dinner while talking about sex. The women--Dominique (Dominique Michel), Louise (Dorothée Berryman), Diane (Louise Portal), and Danielle (Geneviève Rioux)--work out while talking about sex. That evening, they all gather for dinner... and talk about sex. The Decline of the American Empire made the reputation of writer-director Denys Arcand, but his greatest success would arrive 17 years later with The Barbarian Invasions. In that 2003 Oscar-winner, Arcand revisits the lovably loquacious characters from the first film, all of whom are older, wiser--and just as obsessed with sex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
You may be aware of the current multi-award winning Canadian movie The Barbarian Invasions; well this movie is essentially the prequel to it, and has one of the tightest, wittiest scripts you're likely to see - think 'Clerks', 'Festen' or Woody Allen films like 'Deconstruting Harry' set among adulterous, pretentious friends, who are about to come face to face with their immature and irresponsible selfishness. The husbands and wives meet separately before a dinner together, and the conversations they have are as revealing and frank as they are funny. Slowly, the film's title becomes more and more relevant to the opinions and antics of these misbehaving, but ultimately sad middle-aged adults. Denys Arcand is also known for Jesus of Montreal, which I would highly recommend - but this is intelligent scriptwriting and comedy of the highest quality.
Format:DVD
Sort of a French-Canadian 'Big Chill', but smarter, if less emotional.
There really isn't a plot. For the first half of the film four upscale,
yuppie male friends (one gay) prepare a meal and talk about sex, while
their female counterparts do the same at a gym. The 2nd half is the two
groups sharing dinner, where the talk is more muted, but the personal
stakes much higher.
Probably over-hyped as a masterpiece when it first came out, now
it's often treated too harshly.
The acting is strong throughout, and the satiric point that all the
characters believe themselves self-knowing, but are really all living
in denial and delusion is perhaps a little obvious, but interesting in it's
effect and execution.
There really isn't a plot. For the first half of the film four upscale,
yuppie male friends (one gay) prepare a meal and talk about sex, while
their female counterparts do the same at a gym. The 2nd half is the two
groups sharing dinner, where the talk is more muted, but the personal
stakes much higher.
Probably over-hyped as a masterpiece when it first came out, now
it's often treated too harshly.
The acting is strong throughout, and the satiric point that all the
characters believe themselves self-knowing, but are really all living
in denial and delusion is perhaps a little obvious, but interesting in it's
effect and execution.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
An enjoyable watch, though not as good as its sequel.
31 Oct 2004
I guess like a lot of other viewers, I hadn't watched "The Decline of the American Empire" until after I had watched its sequel. Four men and four women get together in a house by the lakeside in Quebec and what follows will keep you engrossed till the end. Director Denys Arcand has the characters play out how they would spend a normal holiday, but "normal" for them has a slightly different meaning than for us ordinary folks.
There's a much younger Remy, the professor at the University of Laval, womanizer par excellence, alongside his (comparatively) straightlaced wife Louise. Pierre, the host, is seeing Danielle, a history student at the university, who was his masseur at a parlor where he is a regular. Their gay friend Claude lives alone because of his compulsive urges to cruise. Then there's the naive and innocent Alain, both Remy and Pierre's ex-mistress Dominique and finally Diane, who's in a BDSM relationship with a guy who scoffs at Claude's Russian trout dish, wine and pilsner but still turns him on as he resembles one of his ex-lovers. The movie follows their conversations over the course of the day, the night and the next morning, interspersed with flashbacks. As Louise says to the BDSM guy, intellectuals love to talk ... and boy, do they talk! Constantly trading barbs, reeling off historical accounts, offering informed opinions on issues (though not as engaging as those in the sequel) and above all, discussing their sex lives (which are nothing short of spectacular) ... the interchanges won't feel dull for a moment. Remy, as usual, is utterly lovable in his depravity.
On a personal note, I like "The Barbarian Invasions" better as I feel that Arcand has refined his style even more over the years so that he is at his peak by this time, but nevertheless this is an enjoyable (if a bit uneven) watch ... not to mention the deja vu that fills you the entire time as you recognize the characters and relate to them as scenes from the other movie come back to you.
There's a much younger Remy, the professor at the University of Laval, womanizer par excellence, alongside his (comparatively) straightlaced wife Louise. Pierre, the host, is seeing Danielle, a history student at the university, who was his masseur at a parlor where he is a regular. Their gay friend Claude lives alone because of his compulsive urges to cruise. Then there's the naive and innocent Alain, both Remy and Pierre's ex-mistress Dominique and finally Diane, who's in a BDSM relationship with a guy who scoffs at Claude's Russian trout dish, wine and pilsner but still turns him on as he resembles one of his ex-lovers. The movie follows their conversations over the course of the day, the night and the next morning, interspersed with flashbacks. As Louise says to the BDSM guy, intellectuals love to talk ... and boy, do they talk! Constantly trading barbs, reeling off historical accounts, offering informed opinions on issues (though not as engaging as those in the sequel) and above all, discussing their sex lives (which are nothing short of spectacular) ... the interchanges won't feel dull for a moment. Remy, as usual, is utterly lovable in his depravity.
On a personal note, I like "The Barbarian Invasions" better as I feel that Arcand has refined his style even more over the years so that he is at his peak by this time, but nevertheless this is an enjoyable (if a bit uneven) watch ... not to mention the deja vu that fills you the entire time as you recognize the characters and relate to them as scenes from the other movie come back to you.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Let's talk about sex
13 Mar 2005
Format:DVD
Four middle-aged successful couples examine the sexual revolution. The men all meet and talk (they are preparing a dinner), and the women all meet, too (in a gym). The movie is almost all talk as each person reveals his or her own story and feelings. They then all meet and talk some more, and some illusions are destroyed via certain betrayals. It's rare to see such a sophisticated film, though it's very stagey and not very dramatic. (At one point a man, not part of the group, says, "All they do is talk about sex and then sit down to a fish dinner.") An interesting picture, though, for the most part. In French.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A pithy, straight to the heart view of people and humanity.
1 April 1999
One of the warmest, coolest and most bracing films I have seen. I cried with laughter and sadness and realisition at a film that is refreshingly bold about human weakness and strengths. Very funny, stirring, sad...true. SEE THIS FILM.
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