The Decline of the American Empire

Starring:Dominique Michel, DorothÃ©e Berryman, Louise Portal, Pierre Curzi, RÃ©my Girard, Yves Jacques, GeneviÃ¨ve Rioux, Daniel BriÃ¨re, Gabriel Arcand, Ã‰velyn Regimbald, Lisette Guertin, Alexandre Remy, Ariane FrÃ©dÃ©rique, Jean-Paul Bongo
Director: Denys Arcand
Studio: Koch Lorber Films
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews:

Koch-Lorber DVD Review.......2007-07-01

I have the Koch-Lorber Films version of this DVD; I do not know about any others. This movie (and its rave reviews) stands for itself, and I am not reviewing the quality of the movie, which I think is at least 4/5 stars, but this DVD seems to have been made in fullscreen format though the movie must be wider than that because the credits get cut off at the sides.

I don't care about the credits, but obviously this means that the DVD was released in a format that was not as the filmakers intended; for instance, the "take me in your arms" scene between Louise & Claude, as well as some of the winterscape scenes at the end could have been much more beautifully effective--it is obvious that they were cut off at the sides...a pity! Since the DVD packaging references "17 years before The Barbarian Invasions..." (a movie from 2003), there is no excuse in the 21st century for DVD editing of this sort.

I give a low review not for the film, but for the editing of this DVD; buyer beware, though this may be the only version available.

The Decline of Canadien Cinema.......2007-03-17

OK, I think I get where the director was trying to go with this film. A premise is set up in the beginning saying that the decline of a civilization is directly related to the concern for personal pleasure those citizens of that society exhibit. Then the director sets up this intellectual society of a few men and women and we watch over the course of what seems like several days as these people get more comfortable talking about sex until at the end it creates a severe tension. That seems kind of clever on paper, but suffers many problems on screen.

First the initial premise is too easily proved to be improper logic. People have always been concerned with personal pleasure; in fact, it can be better argued that the drive for personal pleasure is what built most cultures. Since the U.S. is in the spotlight here, we only need to be reminded of Adam Smith. He is not the personal pleasure monger that most make him out to be, but he does strongly argue that this personal selfishness is what will build the society. As far as the U.S. goes he was much more right than wrong. The other problem with this idea is that personal pleasure does not necessarily exclude granting concern for others; one can have both. This bad logic, makes these "intellectuals" look like they must teach at the most underpaid community colleges in North America. So this begs to question anything "intellectual" they might say.

What is worse is that most of these intellectuals are made out to be sexual Napoleons that have created conquests in all of their worldly travels. What we see are a bunch of gawky, awkward men(?) who appear to have just left puberty yesterday. We are treated to a macho S&M stud later in the film whose characterization is utterly ridiculous. He comes off as an over-the-top drop out of a 70's disco movie. For all the brain power these individuals are supposed to possess, they don't often have anything intelligent to say. This film goes to prove that talking is not the prime method of providing a character with depth; these are the most shallow people one will come to painfully kind-of know.

The biggest problem about this movie besides bad characterizations, dumb dialog, and flawed logic is nothing really happens in real time. Stories, especially cinema, are action driven. I'm not referring to action genre movies, but a story is about actions that create tension for a character that lead into actions that resolve those tensions. Most of this film is about a bunch of wanna-be egg-head wanna-be sexual atheletes talking about supposed exploits. There is even a scene of contridictory dialog that brings into question everything that is being said.

I give this two stars only because it was interesting at times and was tolerable, although my wife was quite annoyed when it ended having "wasted" her time. Be warned that this film is just a bunch of people talking and trying to sound clever.

A classic comedy in the European mode.......2007-01-10

Although this film came out over two decades ago, it is still fresh and funny and right on target with the observations on the nature of human relations. The sequel ("The Barbarian Invasions") is more plangent in that we see the other side of that humor, but equally fabulous, and not without its own quirky humor. Get both films, some good bread, wine, and cheese, and have a fabulous evening.

a bunch of horny intellectuals talking about sex..........2005-06-16

...which by itself is not a bad foundation for a movie, the thing is these are French-Canadian academics, with a strong emphasis on the "French" part. That is, they are supremely narcissistic, enlessly self-obsessed, preening and cloying drama queens who are entertaining and stimulating in equal measure to being annoying and exasperating.

Like other reviewers, I came upon this film after seeing its sequal, "The Barbarian Invasions" which while also very talky in a five-miles-wide-and-one-inch-deep manner, has more of an actual plot to speak of and therefore is a much more effective film that doesn't test your patience quite as much.

The sexual dialogue is often very witty, amusing, refreshingly candid and non-PC, at times even insightful. French-Canadian academics seem to have far richer sex lives than their American counterparts, that's for sure. Surprising because I thought the whole PC crapola was equally if not more pervasive up north...it must be the European influence and lack of puritannical Christianity that we still suffer from.

One sidenote: are all French-Canadian men THIS hopelessly dorky-looking? Why are all the characters so badly dressed, is this film supposed to be set in the 1970s? Weird, I always thought French people were supposedly good-looking and stylish, or is that French-French only, not the Canadian variety? I've met and known quite a few Canadians but none were such total Waldos.

Critism from the inside out with intelligence!.......2005-04-24

This film is not just about men view on women or women view on men or sex viewed by men or sex viewed by women.
It is about Hystory. Denys Arcand is an hystorian first of all.
It also is about intellectuals leftist who became the new bourgeoisie.
It is about a part of the world, Québec province in Canada, who changed immensely throught out the 60's and the 70's when its french intellectuals finally had the opportunity to educate them self and becoming their own leader in every profession from top to bottom. It is about the left politics view of a new born nation that in the 80's is already getting old and its leftist intellectuals are becoming exactly what they were fighting in their youth.
This movie has so many dimension it had to have a sequel 17 years later that answers every question that it was rising in the 80's with the sublime The Barbarian Invasions.
Both are a must see!

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The Decline Of The American Empire

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000260MQ4

Product Description

- French and English Trailer - Original French Version, English Dubbed Version, French Version with English Subtitles----- Have you ever tried to imagine the private conversation that men have about women and women about men? Sex... of course Are men's fantasies really different from women's? Seduction, infidelity, perversion, group sex, sado-masochism, orgies... all taboos are hilariously exposed in this witty story about modern relationships.

The Decline Of The American Empire / The Barbarian Invasions (Original French Version)

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The Decline Of The American Empire / The Barbarian Invasions (Original French Version)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
ASIN: B000A2LTYE

The Decline of the American Empire [Region 2]

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Koch-Lorber DVD Review
The Decline of Canadien Cinema
A classic comedy in the European mode
a bunch of horny intellectuals talking about sex...
Critism from the inside out with intelligence!

The Decline of the American Empire [Region 2]
Starring: Dominique Michel , Dorothée Berryman , Louise Portal , Pierre Curzi , and Rémy Girard
Director: Denys Arcand
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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