The Bottom Line
Pros
- Emotionally and intellectually engaging film that made me both laugh and cry
- Bittersweet movie about a man dying that is actually a celebration of life
- Interesting look at Baby Boomers that is also a compelling father-son story
Cons
- Some find the film too talky and the talk boring
- Some may not like the contrived, fable-like quality of the movie
- Some are put off by the film’s blatant manipulation of its audience
Description
- DVD containing French-language drama "The Barbarian Invasions" (2003)
- Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
- Movie written and directed by Denys Arcand
- Film is the sequel to "The Decline of the American Empire" (1986), but stands on its own
- DVD provides 51-minute TV program "Inside 'The Barbarian Invasions'"
- Excellent picture (anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1, Color) and excellent sound quality
- MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual dialogue and drug content
- Feature run time: 1 hour 39 minutes
- DVD release date: July 13, 2004
Guide Review - "The Barbarian Invasions" DVD
Set in Montréal, the French-language "The Barbarian Invasions" won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. At Cannes, the movie received awards for Best Actress (Marie-Josée Croze) and Best Screenplay (Denys Arcand, who also directed). When I watched this emotionally engaging film at home on DVD, it made me both laugh and cry.
The story revolves around the death from illness of a history professor named Rémy. But Rémy's son Sébastien has gotten rich in the London financial arena, and he uses his wealth to make his father's final days as pleasant as possible. Using heroin to ease his pain, Rémy is surrounded by old friends, and they look back over the years at lives fully lived, suffusing the movie with wit and joy.
The DVD provides only one bonus material of any consequence: a 51-minute French-language television program titled "Inside 'The Barbarian Invasions'." The program consists of a dozen actors in an informal discussion of some of the issues raised by the movie: changing times, a vanishing heritage, bureaucracy, the power of money, drugs, family, friends, spirituality.
The film's narrative is driven by the melancholy fact that Rémy is dying, but the movie is far too cheerful and vibrant for that to be its dominant mood. In the end, I found this to be one of most life-affirming films I've seen. If I were forced to characterize the movie in a single word, I would say it is bittersweet.
