Decline Of The American Empire

Year: 1986

Grade: C+

Country: Canada

Director: Arcand

Review

same director as barbarian invasions and it doesn’t add much to that film. basically a french-canadian version of friends and sex in the city. there’s enough intellectualizing going on to keep it above those shows, but it still boils down to your basic comic drama about middle aged intellectuals and their sex lives. for me, films like this have a limited potential. i’m just not able to empathize with people who fuck everyone in sight and then have regrets about it later. i guess europeans and canadians are just more sexually liberated than i am so i just don’t understand it. i know a lot of white trash people who make frequent appearances on “cops” who are also “sexually liberated” in the way that we see in this film…i guess it’s just something i’m doomed to misunderstand. to a certain extent the characters know what they’re doing, but they think it’s completely acceptable. civilization is based on lies, one character says, and this, along with an extreme degree of horniness, is what drives otherwise normal characters. the film does approach the topic without pulling any punches and is technically well put together. there are moment of decent comedy, but i found myself laughing less and shaking my head more.