The Decline of the American Empire (1986)

Country: Canada
Director: Denys Arcand
Production Co: Cineplex-Odeon Films
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: 7.2/10
Length: 100 mins

Storyline

A group of academics at the University of Montreal - most long time friends - are planning on gathering at the lakeside recreational home of Rémy and Louise, who have been together for twenty years, married for fifteen of them, for dinner. Louise knows Rémy cheats on her, but believes he only does so when she is not around, about which she accepts. Their recreational home is adjacent to many of the recreational homes of the others, who are: divorced Pierre, his much younger current girlfriend Danielle who is a student at the university, the two who are still in the stage of newfound love, divorced mother Diane, independent minded Dominique, single homosexual Claude, and graduate student Alain. While the four men prepare the dinner, the four women are working out together in the gym. The common factor between the two groups is the topic of conversation: sex, especially as it relates to themselves. But underlying each of the conversations is their own academic and thus intellectual backgrounds, which shapes the nature of the discussions. When the two groups finally converge for dinner, a ninth person is added peripherally, brusque working class Mario, Diane's current sexual partner. This relationship is a first for Diane in that not only their sexual encounters but the way they interact with each other in general is predicated on S and M, dictated largely by Diane who nonetheless is the submissive. What happens with the group as dinner goes into evening and evening goes into morning is further shaped by them listening to a prerecorded interview Dominique did for CBC Radio earlier in the day to promote her new book, which discusses how the quest for individual happiness in modern western society is leading to the decline of the society in general.—Huggo