The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

During his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.

Director:

Denys Arcand

Writer:

Denys Arcand

Stars:

Rémy Girard, Dorothée Berryman, Stéphane Rousseau

Won 1 Oscar. Another 49 wins & 35 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rémy Girard	...	Rémy
Stéphane Rousseau	...	Sébastien
Marie-Josée Croze	...	Nathalie
Marina Hands	...	Gaëlle
Dorothée Berryman	...	Louise
Johanne-Marie Tremblay	...	Sister Constance Lazure (as Johanne Marie Tremblay)
Pierre Curzi	...	Pierre Citrouillard
Yves Jacques	...	Claude
Louise Portal	...	Diane Leonard
Dominique Michel	...	Dominique St. Arnaud
Isabelle Blais	...	Sylvaine
Toni Cecchinato	...	Alessandro
Sophie Lorain	...	First Lover
Mitsou	...	Ghislaine (as Mitsou Gélinas)
Markita Boies	...	Nurse Suzanne

Storyline

In this belated sequel to 'The Decline of the American Empire', 50-something Montreal college professor, Remy, learns that he is dying of liver cancer. He decides to make amends meet to his friends and family before he dies. He first tries to made peace with his ex-wife Louise, who asks their estranged son Sebastian, a successful businessman living in London, to come home. Sebastian makes the impossible happen, using his contacts and disrupting the entire Canadian system in every way possible to help his father fight his terminal illness to the bitter end, while he also tries to reunite his former friends, Pierre, Alain, Dominique, Diane, and Claude to see their old friend before he passes on.

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Plot Keywords:

dying | cancer | hospital | philosophical | father son conflict | 

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Taglines:

A provocative new comedy about sex, friendship, and all other things that invade our lives.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, sexual dialogue and drug content

Details

Official Sites:

Bim Distribuzione [Italy] Official site

Country:

Canada France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

5 March 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Barbarian Invasions

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

CAD6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$461,363, 11 May 2003

Gross USA:

$8,544,975

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,883,010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pyramide Productions, Cinémaginaire Inc., Astral Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 112 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

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Goofs

When Sebastian and Nathalie first come to Nathalie's heroin dealer, we hear the rain falling, yet when Nathalie steps on the street there is no sign of rain but we can still hear it.

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Quotes

Rémy: [in French] Contrary to belief, the 20th century wasn't that bloody. It's agreed that wars caused 100 million deaths. Add 10 million for the Russian gulags. The Chinese camps, we'll never know, but say 20 million. So 130, 145 million dead. Not all that impressive. In the 16th century, the Spanish and Portuguese managed, without gas chambers or bombs, to slaughter 150 million Indians in Latin America. With axes! That's a lot of work, sister. Even if they had church support, it was an achievement....

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Best Films of 2003 (2004)

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Soundtracks

Piano Trio in C Major
Music by Franz Joseph Haydn (as Haydn)
Éditions Analekta
Courtesy of Intermède Pik Music

User Reviews

The baby boomer party is over...

It's not often that you get a movie that makes you want to write pages and pages about how it made you think... There is so much in this movie - the fear of dying, the loss of values inherent to the late 20th century, the rift between the idealistic baby boomers and the battle-hardened and devious Gen-Xers.

And especially a nostalgia of the incredible times the boomers lived through. Remy, the learned professor in his fifties, is dying of cancer, and as he remembers his younger days, his many sexual adventures, the people he met and the things he saw, one realizes that he is of a generation which thought itself indestructible, and now he's terrified of dying. A poignant nostalgia involuntarily grabs you when you get the message loud and clear through Remy's fate - for a whole generation, the party is over. And despite their idealism, the world is still a hard and cruel place. Maybe even worse.

Incredibly well written, incredibly well acted.