L'âge des ténèbres

This film is amazingly well done in its subtlety. The direct portrayal of ultra woke and paternalistic government bureaucracies that have hold in Canada is just painfully true. Moreover the less direct but even more pointed portrayal of resistance to it in the lead character's fantasy and alternate life is is just wonderfully subtle.

Very original plot. A very funny take on bureaucracy, political correctness and the nanny state gone overboard.

Takes itself too seriously towards the end, and ultimately the plot drifts, but some screamingly funny moments along the way.

If there is any hope for Canadian films it is in Quebec. Quebec filmmakers are not beholden to Hollywood, enslaved by its techniques or inclined to copy its product. This is an original, brilliantly conceived, masterfully shot and superbly performed film. I'm not sure whether it's satire, social commentary, comedy or perhaps a little of each. It's slightly reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's Brazil but it stands on its own as a powerful film with a thoughtful (if dark) message. The shame is that films of this quality are not seen in English Canada nor in the US outside the limited sphere of film festivals and fringe cinemas. Denys Arcand is a genius and it shows in this work. This film is what movie making is all about! Or should be.

This is not a rip off of American Beauty, but a rip off of Montreal.

The government of Quebec must make this movie mandatory to every immigrant before coming to Quebec because everything in it is 100% true. Our hospitals are horrible and inadequate filled with incompetent doctors, the elderly are treated very badly in nursing homes, the government wastes money in everything but efficiency, less and less people are getting married and affairs are the norm, our laws are retarded and city itself is riddled with depression. sex and alcohol. Our suicidal rates are one the highest and if you don't day dream about an escape, your already dead inside.

A sad and dark view of a dystopian Quebec imagined by Arcand in 2007 with some surprising twists. Some of Arcand's predictions are extremely close to what happened in 2020. Other than that, the movie offers some good moments but it's tendancy to alternate between dreams and actual scenes gets on the nerve.