Il declino dell'impero americano

This film, made in the mid-eighties about yuppies and their lives still holds up 15 years later. It was a contemporary movie then, it is now an impressive period piece. A drama/comedy about four man who are cooking, waiting for their wives who are at the gym and all 8 talk about sex, their lives, sex, fine wine, sex and living in the suburbs! The dialogue is witty and true and never the battle of the sexes has been fought so ferociously and with such verve! You will have a treat remembering how our lives were then. A perfect 10

For many years, this movie ranked in my all time top ten. Over time, my affection for it has dropped, but I still value it greatly. It is a wordy movie about sexual politics of all kinds and human relationships. I have always felt that most of the characters in this film feel a need to justify relationships that they should not be in.

The story is simple - a group of men prepare dinner for a group of women who are at a club working out. While in separate locations, they are free to talk about their sexual appetites, exploits and conquests. The female conversations are particularly funny. Eventually, the women arrive and dinner commences, an unexpected guest shows up and eventually, secrets are revealed.

Decline of the American Empire is Denys Arcand's best film, and at the time, the best ever to come out of Canada. (That crown now firmly belongs to Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter). It seems a little dated today, but if you can handle subtitles, and if you like movies with lots of dialogue about sex and human relationships, it is a worthy rental. ***1/2 out of ****.

The title sounds like as if it comes from Ancient Rome, and in a very galvanized way, this witty-sarcastic tragicomedy from Canada has something to do with it: The easier is life, the looser are the dos. And that is why during a country house weekend stay all the participating intellectual bourgeois charmers, who usually teach history and write books, waffle about sex, sex and sex, while they kick at the fitness center (the women) or prepare a fish plate in the kitchen (the men).

With perfidious lust Denys Arcand contra-dots male and female sex fantasies. When you listen to the gent club between stove and sink, your ears seem to fall off. When you hear the rants of the lady squad between sauna and bodybuilding, the ears of the gents ought to fall off. However, after the gender cliques unite at the table for dinner, a more complicated inner life becomes visible beneath all these ludicrous orgasm rants from before. Friends came together here who are kind to, who lie to, who hurt each other. Bitterness and resignation, but also safety and tolerance remain in the autumn dawn. And after all, it's a film of a verbally disarming sexual humour, adorably acted and with gentle ironies of absurd experiences of life: The human being is multifaceted. Simple are only theories.

Another outstanding work from Denys Arcand! You definitely have to have a taste for dialogue-driven stuff for this, but if you have the patience you will be rewarded. In the first 20 minutes I thought it might be just another analysis of the male-female relationship dynamic. But it surprised me with a few twists and of course some outstanding acting. I can't believe this is the same Remy Girard from the Les Boys movies. BTW, this film IS available on DVD, as are many other Quebec films featured on IMDB, but not listed as available on DVD. You can usually find them at www.archambault.ca or better yet, travel to Montreal and go to the store on St. Catherine and Berri.

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!