The Decline of the American Empire (1986)

Denys Arcand is one of the preeminent talents to have emerged in Quebec in the 1960s, and is now one of Canada’s star directors. Before the huge success of his breakthrough film, Le déclin de l’empire américain (1986), Arcand had been labelled an unbankable troublemaker, the kind of filmmaker who made politically explosive documentaries......
Eight intellectual friends - four men and four women from the Department of History at the Université de Montréal - prepare to have dinner together. The ensuing conversations range from their professional lives to politics, but primarily concern their sexual exploits. The group has plans to gather at a secluded house for dinner. While the four men prepare the food and reflect on their promiscuity, the four women discuss their own affairs at a nearby gym. At the dinner table, conflicts soon arise when Dominique reveals that she herself has had affairs with two of the men there, one of whom is married to Louise (also present).This is the first of what becomes a loose trilogy for Mr.Arcand; followed by 2004 Oscar winner,The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares ), and completed with Days of Darkness (L’Âge des ténèbres)

……….Arcand’s films portray a world so irredeemably corrupt that he has been accused of being a cynic and a nihilist. Yet, his films consistently explore and demystify our social and political processes; and moreover, they convey inherent values with wit and insight. He once told Cinema Canada “I can’t bear people who don’t want to see what appears to me to be reality. I don’t know why. I’ve always been that way... it seems to me that the first attribute of humanity is intelligence.”…………………filmreferencelibrary

Four men, all of them on the university faculty, prepare a dinner party for that evening. Rémy (Rémy Girard) is married, but not above sleeping with other women. Pierre (Pierre Curzi) has a girlfriend. Alain (Daniel Brière) is unattached. Claude (Yves Jacques) is gay, and the risks inherent in cruising are part of the thrill for him. As the afternoon progresses, they talk about women and sex. Meanwhile, their guests – Rémy’s wife Danielle (Dorothée Berryman), Pierre’s girlfriend Danielle (Geneviève Rioux), Dominique (Dominique Michel) and Diane (Louise Portal) – work out at a health club and talk about their love lives, about men. And sex. That evening, a few secrets are about to be revealed…
French-Canadian writer/director Denys Arcand had been making films since the early Sixties, but it was this black satirical comedy that made his reputation outside his native country. The plot is straightforward, even slight, driven as it is by dialogue. Like that of a bawdier Eric Rohmer, Arcand’s dialogue is sharp, funny, character-revealing and a pleasure to listen to. It’s very much the “action” of this film. Arcand consulted many of his friends, of both sexes, as to what they said to each other in private, what men say to other men about women, and vice versa. (One of the friends thanked in the end credits is the late Jean-Claude Lauzon, director of Night Zoo and Léolo.) It certainly rings uncomfortably true. The film is particularly acute on how men can separate sex from love, while women generally can’t. This is particularly true in the later stages of the film, for reasons you’ll have to discover for yourself. None of the characters are especially likeable, and Arcand maintains an ironic distance, which is especially noticeable when Mario (played by Gabriel Arcand, the director’s younger brother) gatecrashes the party. But the film isn’t heartless: scenes showing two characters, both deep down lonely and afraid, seeking comfort in each other, are genuinely moving. The acting is first-rate across the board, and Arcand’s direction and Guy Dufaux’s photography are models of self-effacing precision. In 2003, Arcand would reunite some of these characters in a mellower sequel, The Barbarian Invasions, largely set in the same lakeside villa as this film. - - dvdtimes

Dennys Arcand’s trilogy:
Le déclin de l’empire Américain - The Decline of America Empire
Les Invasions Barbares - The Barbarian Invasions
L'Âge des ténèbres - The Age of Ignorance /Days of Darkness