The Age of Ignorance (2007)
"L'âge des ténèbres" (original title)

Jean-Marc Leblanc (Labrèche), a desperate civil servant, escapes reality as we all know it, to imagine himself as the hero in imaginary adventures.

Director:

Denys Arcand

Writer:

Denys Arcand

Stars:

Marc Labrèche, Diane Kruger, Sylvie Léonard

1 win & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marc Labrèche	...	Jean-Marc Leblanc
Diane Kruger	...	Véronica Star
Sylvie Léonard	...	Sylvie Cormier-LeBlanc
Caroline Néron	...	Carole Bigras-Bourque
Rufus Wainwright	...	Le jeune prince / Le prince chantant
Macha Grenon	...	Béatrice de Savoie
Emma de Caunes	...	Karine Tendance
Didier Lucien	...	William Chérubin
Rosalie Julien	...	Laurence Métivier
Jean-René Ouellet	...	Policier / St-Bernard de Clairvaux
André Robitaille	...	Gilles Sansregret
Hugo Giroux	...	Thorvald
Christian Bégin	...	Le motivateur par le rire
Pierre Curzi	...	Pierre
Gilles Pelletier	...	Raymond Leclerc

Storyline

Jean-Marc is a man without qualities living in times that are out of joint. His wife and children ignore him; he's a mid-level civil servant in Montreal doing his job without care. He has an active imagination of sexual conquest, but his only real feelings come when he visits his aged mother, whose health is failing. When his wife leaves abruptly to work in Toronto, Jean-Marc sets out to reorder things with his daughters, his social life, and at work. In a world that at best is a farce, does he stand a chance?

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Plot Keywords:

conquest | farce | civil servant | marital discord | spontaneous sex | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

French English

Release Date:

26 September 2007 (France)

Also Known As:

The Age of Ignorance

Filming Locations:

Laval, Québec, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinémaginaire Inc., Mon Voisin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Canada's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

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Connections

References Tout le monde en parle (1998)

User Reviews

Extremely entertaining black/dark comedy

Saw this recently at the Canadian film festival.

I was expecting to be let down by this film (as Arcand set the bar very high with his previous films. However I was pleasantly surprised and found this to be very, very entertaining.

With the opening shower scene and the fact that his wife is a real estate agent there are obvious comparisons to American Beauty.

Ulimately I think Arcand covers more ground in his film and you can't help but laugh at his very dark and also very accurate observations on modern life in a big city.

From ridiculous government bureaucracy to disconnection through mobile phones and MP3 players, speed dating and relationships in general Arcand is dead on.

I guess the only thing I didn't quite agree with was the notion of moving to the country house away from the city and it's craziness and everything will be just fine.

I guess it is ultimately sad that this is a pretty accurate depiction of modern society in many western countries right now. The level of disconnection among people is both sad and and frustrating.

But I loved the honesty in the film and found it extremely entertaining and much funnier than his other films.