The Barbarian Invasions

This article is about the 2003 film. For the "barbarian invasions" of Europe, see Migration Period.

Les Invasions barbares The Barbarian Invasions
Original film poster
Directed by	Denys Arcand
Produced by	Daniel Louis Denise Robert
Written by	Denys Arcand
Starring	Rémy Girard Stéphane Rousseau Dorothée Berryman Louise Portal Marie-Josée Croze Marina Hands
Music by	Pierre Aviat
Cinematography	Guy Dufaux
Edited by	Isabelle Dedieu
Production company	Canal+ Telefilm Canada
Distributed by	Pyramide Distribution (France) Alliance Atlantis (Canada) Miramax Films (US)
Release dates	21 May 2003 (2003-05-21) (Cannes) 24 September 2003 (2003-09-24)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	Canada France
Language	French English
Budget	US$5 million
Box office	US$26,924,656

The Barbarian Invasions (French: Les Invasions barbares) is a 2003 Canadian-French comedy-drama film written and directed by Denys Arcand. It is the sequel to Arcand's earlier film The Decline of the American Empire and is followed by Days of Darkness. The film was produced by companies from both Canada and France, including Telefilm Canada, Société Radio-Canada and Canal+. It was released in 2003 and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay but lost to Lost in Translation.

Plot

Continuing seventeen years after Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire, the film centres on an exploration of the characters first met in the original film and their children, newly introduced. The older generation are still largely social-democrats and proponents of Quebec nationalism, but both political and economic developments after the “Quiet Revolution” of the 1960s, as well as their own aging, make their left-wing stance seem somewhat anachronistic.

The plot revolves around the character Rémy's battle with terminal cancer, and the efforts of Sébastien, his estranged son to make his dying father more comfortable in his last days. Finally the father and son travel to Vermont in the United States to receive medical care.

Sébastien, at the request of Rémy's ex-wife Louise, has reluctantly returned from London where he has a successful career in quantitative finance - anathema to his father's socialist persuasions. However, this background helps Sébastien to navigate and manipulate Quebec's healthcare system (portrayed as somewhat overloaded in the film) to secure better care for his father. In the process, he also gathers the various other friends and family members from Rémy's past who come to visit and comfort him. During Rémy's last days, he and his friends travel to the cottage of the first film, and discuss philosophy, politics, and past sexual and intellectual exploits.

Cast

• Rémy Girard as Rémy
• Stéphane Rousseau as Sébastien
• Dorothée Berryman as Louise
• Louise Portal as Diane
• Marie-Josée Croze as Nathalie
• Marina Hands as Gaëlle
• Dominique Michel as Dominique
• Pierre Curzi as Pierre
• Yves Jacques as Claude
• Isabelle Blais as Sylvaine
• Toni Cecchinato as Alessandro
• Sophie Lorain as First Lover
• Mitsou Gélinas as Ghislaine
• Micheline Lanctôt as Nurse Carole
• Johanne-Marie Tremblay as Sister Constance
• Roy Dupuis as Narcotics Officer Gilles Levac

Reception

The Barbarian Invasions has received positive reviews from numerous critics. As of January 2010, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 82% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 123 reviews. Metacritic reports that the film has an average score of 71 out of 100, based on 35 reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the movie four stars and called it "a movie with brains, indignation, irony and idealism." Conversely, Peter Bradshaw, writing for The Guardian, disdained the movie, calling it "grotesquely overpraised," "shot through with middlebrow sophistication, boorish cynicism, unfunny satire, a dash of fatuous anti-Americanism and unthinkingly reactionary sexual politics." In 2004, the Toronto International Film Festival ranked the film tenth in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time.

Awards

The film won France's 2004 César Award for Best Picture and Best Director, plus Best Original Screenplay for Denys Arcand. It also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards, the first Canadian film to actually win the award, in 2004 (Arcand had been previously nominated for 'Invasions' predecessor The Decline of the American Empire and Jesus of Montreal) also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay but losing to Sofia Coppola from Lost in Translation.

At the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, it won two awards: Best Screenplay Award and Best Actress Award for Marie-Josée Croze.

Genie Awards – Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor (Girard), Supporting Actor (Rousseau), Supporting Actress (Croze); Prix Jutra – Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress (Croze); TIFF – Best Canadian Feature; as well as prizes at other international festivals (Bangkok International Film Festival, Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, Czech Lions).

External links

• Official website
• The Barbarian Invasions at the Internet Movie Database
• The Barbarian Invasions at AllMovie
• The Barbarian Invasions at Box Office Mojo
• The Barbarian Invasions at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Barbarian Invasions at Metacritic