L'âge des ténèbres (2007)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Denys Arcand

Writer:

Denys Arcand (writer)

Release Date:

26 September 2007 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

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

Awards:

10 nominations

Cast

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
Johanne-Marie Tremblay	...	Constance Lazure
Michel Rivard	...	Le curé
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Denys Arcand
Thierry Ardisson	...	Himself
Laurent Baffie	...	Himself
Paule Baillargeon	...	Dame à la minerve
Eugénie Beaudry	...	Furie No. 3
Jean-Robert Bourdage	...	(voice)
Benoît Brière	...	Médecin
Marie-Chantal Cadieux	...	Valkyrie #1
Jean Antoine Charest	...	Employé pompe funèbre
Violette Chauveau	...	Dame au banquet
Monia Chokri	...	Aziza
Véronique Cloutier	...	Line
René Richard Cyr	...	Metteur en scène
Evelyne de la Chenelière	...	Guylaine
Marie-Michèle Desrosiers	...	Dame de choeur
Karen Elkin	...	Furie No. 2
Danielle Fichaud	...	Dame du train 2e
Claude Gauthier	...	Viking #1
Danny Gilmore	...	Ecuyer du Prince noir No.1
Michel Olivier Girard	...	Photographe
Françoise Graton	...	Madame Leblanc
Natalie Hamel-Roy	...	Paule
Chantal Lacroix	...	Lucie
Jacques Lavallée	...	Romaric
Gaston Lepage	...	Gardien de sécurité
Elizabeth Lesieur	...	Nicole Pâquet-Plourde
Pauline Martin	...	Mme. Sigouin-Wong
Kesnamelly Neff	...	Nancy Toupin
Silvio Orvieto	...	Monsieur Gallucio
Bernard Pivot	...	Himself / L'homme qui remet le Goncourt
Luc Proulx	...	Homme à l'hospice
Camille Léonard Rioux	...	Mégane Cormier-Leblanc
Isabelle Roy	...	Louise
Lise Roy	...	Voisine alcoolique
Nicholas Simard	...	Viking #2
Rychard Thériault	...	Albert Mondoux
Gisèle Trépanier	...	Directrice de l'hospice
Pascal Anctil	...	Invité aux 'Globes' (uncredited)

Directed by
Denys Arcand

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Denys Arcand		writer

Produced by
Dominique Besnehard	....	co-producer
Philippe Carcassonne	....	co-producer
Daniel Louis	....	producer
Denise Robert	....	producer

Original Music by
Philippe Miller

Cinematography by
Guy Dufaux

Film Editing by
Isabelle Dedieu

Casting by
Lucie Robitaille

Production Design by
François Séguin

Set Decoration by
Suzanne Cloutier
Sylvie Desmarais

Costume Design by
Judy Jonker

Makeup Department
Evelyne Byot	....	key makeup artist
Adrien Morot	....	special makeup effects supervisor
Sabin Paradis	....	key hair stylist
Diane Simard	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Michel Chauvin	....	production manager
Hélène Grimard	....	production supervisor
George Jardon	....	post-production supervisor
Pierre Lapointe	....	unit manager
Jose Uria	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fabrice Barrilliet	....	first assistant director: second unit
Yanick DiVito	....	additional third assistant director
Emilie Malo	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Erik Gosselin	....	specialty props
Ian Lavoie	....	property master
Jean-Michel Rossignol	....	special props maker

Sound Department
Philippe Amouroux	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jocelyn Caron	....	sound recordist
Edouard d'Heucqueville	....	sound mix technician
Marie-Claude Gagné	....	sound
Cyril Holtz	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Lainé	....	sound recordist
Benoit Leduc	....	adr recordist
Stéphane Soye	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Simon Martineau	....	special effects assistant
Guillaume Murray	....	special effects supervisor
Sebastien Roussel	....	special effects
Martin Williams	....	special effects rigger

Visual Effects by
Thierry Delattre	....	visual effects supervisor
Jean-Francois Houde	....	digital compositor: Hybride
Ara Khanikian	....	digital compositor: Hybride
Richard Martin	....	visual effects supervisor: Hybride
Benjamin Ribière	....	digital compositor
Laurent Spillemaecker	....	compositor
Peter Toufidis	....	matte painter: Hybride

Stunts
Mike Chute	....	stunt coordinator
Jean Frenette	....	stunt driver
François Gauthier	....	stunts
Yves Langlois	....	stunt coordinator (Medieval Re-enactment)
Stéphane Lefebvre	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Pierre Beaulieu	....	best boy
Pierre Beaulieu	....	electrician
Charles Beetz	....	rigging gaffer
Stephane Boisvert	....	generator operator
Sarah Couvelaire	....	assistant camera
François Daignault	....	camera operator
Amelie Duceppe	....	third assistant camera
Vincent Gallot	....	daily focus puller
Francois Gamache	....	second assistant camera: second unit
David Giasson	....	grip
Denis Lamothe	....	assistant chief lighting technician
Eric Lefèbvre	....	electrician
Marion Mailhot	....	best boy grip
Dany Racine	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Jan Thijs	....	still photographer
Paul Viau	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Carole Dionne	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Richard Brunet	....	dresser
Pauline Fortin	....	wardrobe coordinator
Christine Grenier	....	wardrobe mistress
Art Reasonover	....	key set costumer

Editorial Department
Marie-Hélène Bourget	....	digital intermediate technician
Stéfanie Guadagnino	....	assistant editor
Arthur Montreuil	....	film timer
Julien Tremblay	....	digital intermediate technician

Other crew
Guillaume Beaudoin-Aubin	....	production assistant
Guillaume Beaudoin-Aubin	....	set runner
Sandrine Boulet	....	production assistant
Marie-Christine D'Amours	....	production secretary
Maxime Delauney	....	production assistant
Laure Flammarion	....	production assistant
Marie La Haye	....	script supervisor
Sylvie Laurin	....	production accountant
Serge Lavigueur	....	armor coordinator
Denis Paquette	....	location manager
Marjolaine Perron	....	assistant production accountant
Lyne Pomerleau	....	production coordinator
Paolo Quintans	....	set production assistant
Martine Rochette	....	assistant location manager
Marin Valois	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Cinémaginaire Inc.
• Mon Voisin Productions

Distributors

• Alfa Films (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• BIM Distribuzione (2007) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Cinéart (2007) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Kino Bez Granits (2008) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution (2008) (Canada) (all media)
• Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm (2007) (Canada) (all media) (Quebec)
• Studio Canal (2007) (France) (all media)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Hybride Technologies (visual effects)

Also Known As:

Days of Darkness (Canada: English title)
The Age of Ignorance (International: English title)

Runtime:

Canada:104 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Canada

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A | Brazil:16 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Laval, Québec, Canada

Company:

Cinémaginaire Inc.

Trivia:

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

Movie Connections:

References "Tout le monde en parle" (1998)

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.