The Decline of the American Empire: Denys Arcand

Denys Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire is a film that I dreaded watching for years. I tried once before well over a year ago, but I could only make it about ten minutes in before I stopped the film in disgust due to the narcissistic characters and almost colonialistic racism. But I finally decided to give the film another chance. And, lo and behold, the characters were still narcissistic and the entire production smelled of smug racial superiority (how else am I supposed to interpret an early line where one man says that he loves "Orientals" because he feels like whenever he pays one for sex they immediately use the money to feed their family?). The film follows eight intellectuals from the Department of History at the Université de Montréal as they prepare for a lavish dinner. Arcand cleverly subverts gender expectations by having the men occupy their time cooking and the women their time working out at a gym and exercising. The film charts their various discussions about relationships, society, and above all, sex. When the eight friends finally do meet for dinner, a series of revelations concerning illicit affairs throws the get-together into turmoil. Despite my problems with the film, it does have its merits. The dialogue, as offensive as I might find it, is superbly written. Instead of collapsing under the sheer weight of said dialogue, the cast rises to the occasion and delivers magnificent performances all around. But here's my central problem with the film: it celebrates misogynistic behavior. All of the friends have extravagant sex lives. In this regard, the women almost match the men with their colorful histories. But the men frame their sexual escapades as a means by which they can trick, deceive, manipulate, and control their women. They discuss the best ways to lie to their significant others about affairs, how having sex with their wives is better after they've cheated, and so on and so forth. And then there's the plethora of racist statements and anecdotes. So what am I trying to say? The Decline of the American Empire is a fine film on a technical level. But it's repulsive from a progressive standpoint.

6/10