The Decline Of The American Empire reviews (1986)

The Decline Of The American Empire details

Format:	18 DVD
Starring:	Louise Portal, Pierre Curzi, Dominique Michel, Dorothee Berryman
Director:	Denys Arcand
Genres:	Comedy, World Cinema - French
Studio:	FUSION MEDIA

DVD 1 disc

Name	Discs
The Decline Of The American Empire	18 Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 37 minutes
Rental release:	Currently unavailable
Main languages:	French
Subtitles:	English

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Most helpful review The Decline Of The American Empire

Great ensemble piece

By Hurdlemagurdle (79 reviews) from Scotland , 07 May 2004

[Highly rated reviewer]

One of these films which leaves you feeling that all French speaking people, no matter what they look like, are sexier, smarter and far more intellectual than you are. The acting and dialogue are superb. A worthy predecessor to The Barbarian Invasions which won an Oscar this year.
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Lacking Quality

By buffyrules (345 reviews) from southend on sea , 09 Oct 2012

Theres no doubt this film asks questions and raises issues about love, happiness, sex etc and does this in a far more blunt and real way than most hollywood efforts.

Not long after this came Sex, Lies and Videotape from Hollywood which in my eyes is a far more thought provoking and enjoyable film. The main difference between the two films is the acting. Here none of the actors managed to break free from the long monologues and actually act leaving me feeling nothing for them and their various plights. A Shame.
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Decline of the American Empire

By Minopater (257 reviews) from Wallington , 26 Mar 2011

Some women in a gym/leisure centre discuss their very intimate personal and sexual details. Meanwhile their husbands and friends discuss similar topics in a country house while preparing a meal for them all. When the two groups come together the revelations continue with startling, sad and darly humorous consequences. This is a very clever and witty film from Denys Arcand. It's the precursor of The Barbarian Invasion which I found slightly better.
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Lecherous Lecturers

By Oldbloke (314 reviews) from Sidmouth , 31 Jan 2011

A group of middle aged French-Canadian intellectuals who are long term friends and occasional lovers plan a dinner party. The men prepare the food while the women workout at the gym. Both parties have frank discussions about love, marriage and particularly sex. When they finally get together, their largely philosophical discussions can't prevent sexual tensions from rising to the fore. Quite disappointing prequel to the funny touching Barbarian Invasions. Characters have little warmth, too much humour is confined to in-jokes that exclude the viewer and one of the women has a melt down completely at odds with what has gone before.
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The Decline Of My Appetite

By missmarshall (1 review) from Cambridge, England , 26 Jan 2011

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

A “sophisticated satire” that sees two tedious men joke and brag about their various conquests and infidelities in front of an impressionable youth and their composed homosexual friend. Meanwhile four middle aged woman discuss their sexual endeavours at the gym, unfortunately alongside flashbacks.

The only redeeming features are some vaguely interesting (although dated) filming in places and one character you can feel something other than aversion for. Even here the subject of aids is thrown in and given little thought considering the decade the film was made.

Any comparison to French cinema is disputable, if you’re looking for something sexy and stylish this isn’t really for you. Intellectual it might be, but the over-wordy dialogue makes for a dreary film and meeting your future wife as she pleasures you in a massage parlour is not sophisticated or clever.
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decline of the american empire

By a customer from birmingham , 29 Oct 2010

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

cireky me! had seen les invasions barbares whilst in france a few years back and therefore wanted to see the 'first installment'... dear oh dear, i may be perhaps a bit of an 'intellectual type' but shoot me if i am as full of rhubarb as this bunch of folks. managed to watch it through to the bitter end, by which time i had a modicum of sympathy for the 'duped' character but honestly... it made me rather queasy to hear their arrogant, ignorant, selfish take on 'life and sexuality'... (I suppose this is meant to parody 'the decline of the american empire' and offer a satire play of such views, but I just couldn't stomach it...) and I thought I loved french films! -well admittedly its Canadian(!!) so in fact their french accents didn't help -sounded like english people speaking french with really bad intonation...

not a lover of this film, as I guess you can tell...

hey ho :-(
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