WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Jackson Booth-Millard This Québécois, i.e. Canadian made French language film, is definitely not one I would have heard or perhaps of cared before I saw its inclusion in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I hoped I would agree with this and other critical opinions. Basically four academic intellectual friends, four men and four women, all from the Department of History at the Université de Montréal, are gathering for a dinner at a rambling and secluded country house. The men are married Rémy (Rémy Girard), homosexual Claude (Yves Jacques), involved with a girlfriend Pierre (Pierre Curzi) and bachelor Alain (Daniel Brière) who spend time discussing political and professional topics, but mostly women, the female body and sex. The women are Rémy wife of 15 years Louise (Dorothée Berryman), spinster Dominique St. Arnaud (Dominique Michel), divorcée Diane Leonard (Louise Portal) and Pierre's girlfriend Danielle (Geneviève Rioux) are spending time in the gym downtown also discussing politics and professional stuff, and also their sexual affairs and opinions of men. It is after the dinner is prepared and they all gather at the table that tensions arise, when it turns out one of the women may have had an affair with two of the men, one being married, and they are also joined by ninth guest Mario (Gabriel Arcand) who only adds more stress to the situation. The acting is all fine, and the story is relatively simple, it is the mix of flashbacks and the dialogue full of sexual exploits and experiences that is most interesting to watch, it also adds to the concept of character imperfections creating complications, it is a watchable comedy drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!

OkayDoood Then get ready for a dialogue heavy, intellectually stimulating (among other things) film about 4 men, 4 women, sex, and sociology.I enjoyed the conversations and how the director enhanced them with flashbacks. These were the evidence to the theses that the characters were proving. You could tell that there was as much physical humor as there was dialogue-based humor! When Diane (played by Louise Portal) described what sexual positions this 'real man' would put her in, she lied on the field and literally stretched them out! Another scene took place back at the vacation home with the 4 men. They got into a convo about how silly and mundane it was to pick up girls while dancing at a disco. They all got up and started dancing! While chatting up academics as small talk! The climax of the movie was particularly moving and heart-breaking. Can you see how I'm talking mostly about the plot? This is a great film that has a lot of movement in it, and it doesn't take a lot of walking and changes of scenery to keep it going!

MartinHafer I had a VERY hard time sitting through this film. Unless you really are very pro-adultery and like to hear people ENDLESSLY talking about their sexual exploits, I can't see how you could enjoy this film. Geez--most of the main characters behaved like rutting weasels and their bragging about their MANY infidelities grew tiresome. About the only element of this I appreciated was the DISGUSTING scene where the one character was urinating and blood was splattering everywhere because he'd picked up an STD---BIG SURPRISE!?! Hmm.If you want a GOOD film, watch the sequel, Barbarian Invasions. Despite the general unlikable nature of many of the characters, the sequel is VERY involving and more realistic--well worth your time.

mrs_danvers recently saw 'les invasions barbares' by this film's director denys arcand, the papa of the cinema-du-papa of french canada. it's a film centered on 'le declin's' Remy character, a pain-in-the-ass married, chauvinist, leftist academic, his strained relationship with his grown son, and his world-weary, academic friends who come to his side before his impending death. i thought it was rather interesting and i quite liked it. an intelligent exploration of the cost of the way we live our lives--politically, morally, and socially. then, i rented 'jesus de montreal,' a scathing intellectual critique of the commerciallization of the arts in canada. i liked that one too. then, i watched 'le declin de l'empire americain,' which is the prequel to 'les invasions.' i realized how much arcand has developed in some ways in between these two films, his vision has matured. however, i realize that 'le declin' smacks of the sort of thing that hovers on the edges of his other two better films, sexism, of course, but more insidiously, a nonchalant racism that is never addressed as a political issue despite the fact that everything else is. it's the kind of film that makes makes the contempt i hold for white liberal intellectuals that much wider and deeper and alienates me from their white smugness. for example, in both 'les invasions' and 'le declin,' there is this particularly insidious aside of the main character's apparent racist fascination with 'les femmes asiatiques.' in two identical shots of an asian woman's face, holding the prototypical fetishized gaze of the male speaker, he goes on about his desire for her. it's so bloody demeaning and why the hell does Remy/Arcand repeat himself like this in these two films? is it to show the level of this character's sexual appetite by throwing in the classical emblem of the other, an asian woman? how incredibly oversexed he is to express his particular fetish for 'les vietnamiennes' or 'les chinoises?' it's freaking sick. and it's even more sick because it's completely apolitical in a film that politicizes everything else, including white women's sexual attitudes. the subaltern cannot speak. in another scene, this really embittered, nightmarish white woman academic talks about her sexual adventures in martinique where she has a three-way with a couple of black martiniquains. she says that it was fine except when they 'opened their mouths.' then she mimics their pathetic patois in a contemptuous, racist tone. this is completely messed up. i guess it's a critique of this character, but still, again, here is the apolitical treatment of race in a liberal, political film. why? it adds nothing to the film and is an insult to people of color who watch this. or maybe denys arcand doesn't think people of color would go see his films?i have many reservations about denys arcand. he may be canada's 'best filmmaker' but he's kind of a scourge of racist, white, international, feelgood art cinema, a mon avis...