"The Barbarian Invasions" builds its slice-of-death dramady around a college professor, Rémy (Girard), who is dying from cancer by using his imminent death as an excuse to bring together all sorts of central and side characters including relatives and friends and even a heroine addict who pushes the final pleasures into the dying man's veins. The result is a manipulative dialogue-intensive tale which distills to little more than a string of conversations running the gamut from past exploits to philosophies of life to jocular meandering to pedantic blathering, etc. Personally, I found Rémy a less than interesting bore and the film a very slick, well crafted, but unsatisfying contrivance. However, its respectable marks from critics and public including some major awards suggest this sequel to Arcand's "The Decline of the American Empire (1986)" may have value for some. (B)
Review of The Barbarian Invasions
