The Decline of the American Empire

Whether intentional or not, this is a conservative's caricature of liberalism. Upper class intellectuals with nothing better to do than promote and defend the moral decay of society while at the same time showing themselves to be sexist, racist self centered pricks. There's nothing sympathetic about the characters and and the bland throwaway philosophies scattered throughout the film are deeply rooted in the 80s mentality they purport to reject.

I usually like talky pictures but these characters were quite insufferable, their monotonous conversations growing extremely tiresome. Look at us, aren't we marvelously intellectual and decadent? Boring and ultimately hypocritical is more like it. The film is well-made and well-acted, however.

Very little of this has the quality of conversation, with appropriate reactions and responses from the participants; it's more like a rotating comic monologue, and it has the quality of shtick. The real interlocutors are just the scriptwriter (and Arcand) and the mute, if not dumbstruck, viewer. There are flashes of wit and intelligence in both the writing and directing, but nothing so prolonged as a flash of credibility.

Is this supposed to be a criticism of academia? How White University professors who smugly think they can solve the world's problems through intellectual discussion are actually horrible racists and misogynists who cause more problems than they fix? I wanna give the film the benefit of the doubt say that, but I honestly, don't thunk that's what Arcand was going for, and instead all we have are some unlikable characters and pretentious drivel.

Perhaps a movie where the main draw is that the characters talk frankly about sex doesn't have a very long shelf-life. Because most of the dialogue seemed intended to shock, and it probably did in 1986. But now, beyond the novelty of people speaking that way, there's not much to engage with, especially in the first half, where it's practically an intellectual Canadian version of Kids. It becomes more interesting in the second half, but not enough.

I think its main strenght is that it is ultimately very hard to like even though it's mainly about sex: the intellectual talk is so self-absorbing that you think the world might just be in a real messy decay if we depend on people like these to keep humanity alive.

Rohmer for retards.

It's a very solid movie in it's own right, as is it's companion piece Barbarian Invasions but they are definitely superior as a duo. The aging of intellects is tremendously fun (and poignant) to watch.

This film has a certain je nais sais quoi that exemplifies why most Canadians hate Quebec.

a crass, ultimately pointless film. i understand what arcand was trying to do on a thematic level - linking the pursuit of carnal pleasure on an individual level to the decline of a collective nation - but i don't know if film was the right medium for his message. his film, full of talking heads, read more like a dissertation than an emotive motion picture.

goodness gravy! - what a whole whack of pretentious hooey!

Watched it after Barbarian Invasions (didn't know they were related until finishing that one) and I have to say this one really dissapointed me. This one is too superficial, it's filled with pure intellectual masturbation, finally looking more stupid and pseudointellectual than anything. I get the caricature of the people, but doesn't look good enough. Some anecdotes and the final segment are the best of the movie, and I thank this give me the much better (and independent) Barbarian Invasions.

the hypocrisy of not holding up to your own personal politics is an interesting starting point but gah, so dry.

2x

Karakterlerin film doyunca konuşup tartıştıkları konular itibariyle ilgi çekici bir metin olduğu doğru, fakat sinematik olarak fazlasıyla monoton, ve bir yerden sonra sıkıcı.