vernon film society
Bringing the best in world and Canadian film to film lovers of Vernon and the North Okanagan
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS
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| A provocative new comedy about sex, friendship, and all other things that invade our lives.
"It's a feast of smart, sexy, glorious talk. The Oscar for best foreign film belongs right here." – Rolling Stone |
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In 1986, renowned Quebecois filmmaker Denys Arcand’s
masterwork THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
won 8 Genies, the Best Canadian Film & Audience
Award at the Toronto International Film Festival ®
, Cannes’ Fipresci Award, the New York Film Critics
Circle Award and a nomination for an Academy Award.
Now, 17 years later, Arcand revisits the infamous characters
from “DECLINE” in the witty and insightful
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, a film that took the
2003 Cannes Film Festival by storm, winning an award
for it’s script (Prix du Scénario) as well
as Best Actress (Marie-Josée Croze). Now in his
early fifties and divorced, history professor Remy (Rémy
Girard, SÉRAPHIN: HEART OF STONE) is in
the hospital. His ex-wife Louise (Dorothée Berryman,
THE RED VIOLIN) recalls their millionaire son
Sébastien (Stéphane Rousseau) from his
high-flying job in London to his estranged father’s
side. Upon his arrival, Sébastien discovers his
unrepentantly flirtatious father besieged by visitations
from ex-mistresses in a crowded over-worked, under-staffed
ward and takes things into his own hands. Pulling strings
to obtain a clear diagnosis of his fathers illness (worse
than expected), Sébastien smoothly uses bribery
and illegal schemes to challenge the chaotic health
care system to offer his dying father the best care
conditions… and a bit of happiness. Friends from
Remy’s rambunctious past flock to his bedside
to offer support or settle scores. Divorced from Remy
for a decade and a half, Louise looks to forgive, forget
and move on. Pierre, who by his own admission lacked
the self-esteem to procreate, has settled down with
a buxom wife and kids but at what cost? As for Remy,
his condition and new relationships with a warm and
witty nun and a newfound junkie friend (Marie-Josée
Croze, ARARAT) offer him the opportunity to take
a candid view of his own excesses and shortcomings.
Through it all, Remy and his son, who stands for everything
he despised about his own father, remain at loggerheads
with little time to reconcile their differences. In
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, Denys Arcand (JESUS
OF MONTREAL) once again displays his trademark wit
and cynicism in the unforgiving, ironic picture he paints
of some of our society’s institutions –
healthcare, justice and educational systems, unions
and the Church. At the same time, he celebrates his
characters’ adroitness at eclipsing despair with
humour and their immense appetite for life. DECLINE
OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE’s characters are back
and sure to delight, move and provoke moviegoers in
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS.