CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

christian_fournier I give 10/10 only to films I cannot get out of my head, and Denys Arcand's « Les Invasions Barbares » is one of them. I watched it shortly after its release in 2003, and I have periodically watched it again until now (2018) : This movie is timeless and can be watched over and over, like a play by Shakespeare. Arcand's previous « Le déclin de l'Empire Américain » is an immensely enjoyable film, but much more linked to a specific period - circa the 1970s and '80s - and to a specific close-knit group of adult intellectual baby-boomers living through an unrestrained exploration of sex encounters, an exploration inextricably enmeshed with wanton destruction of families and - for some of the group - with a quest for love, explicit or not. « Les Invasions Barbares » has a theme in continuity with « Le déclin », but what makes this film "intemporel" is that each character is led to take stock of his or her life by the spectacle of a man (Rémy) they love, or come to love, dying right before their eyes. The viewer instinctively knows that for a number of these characters, notably the younger including this man's son, his son's companion, his daughter, and most radically his junkie caretaker, their life will be changed ever after. A meditation on what a meaningful life is, on the irrepressible need to leave one's mark in this world, on where societies go when religion recedes, on what love means for the sons and daughters of divorced parents, on seeing an entire generation ditch their joyful idealistic errors only to watch them replaced by the no-nonsense materialistic errors of a new generation, this film « Les Invasions Barbares » reminds one of the beautiful song « On vit les uns avec les autres » by French-Canadian Fabienne Thibeault : even when surrounded by friends and siblings we are always alone, facing our Creator at the time of our death - or, which is infinitely more terrifying, facing emptiness. The middle film of Denys Arcand's trilogy, « Jésus de Montréal », has not worked on me the same magic, maybe because my religious beliefs have made me uneasy with Arcand's transgression. The synopsis is simple : if Jesus came onto this Earth today, he would be put into a mental institution and sedated to the rest of his days ! A bit too much for me, even though I understand it to be a denunciation by Arcand of the materialistic "pensée unique" of our times. Arcand has depth, creativity and talent. His trilogy is a unique combination of films that make one think. Thank you Denys !

Rockwell_Cronenberg You know those movies where a group of friends get together and the film consists of a series of conversations between them regarding their lives, loves and many interminglings? Well, take one of those and make the characters completely unlikeable, thin and not remotely interesting and you've got The Decline of the American Empire. Now take those worthless characters, age them twenty years and make one of them dying and you've got The Barbarian Invasions. Invasions is slightly more bearable thanks to a surprisingly rich, emotional performance by Marie-Josee Croze (surprising because someone of her skill shouldn't have the misfortune of being in a film like this), but both films are horrid experiences overall. You can feel writer/director Denys Arcand sitting behind the pages, writing these characters and smiling with delight over how witty and bold he finds their pattering on, but all that comes out is forced, pseudo-intellectual garbage.There's a disturbing irony to it all because the film glazes over these dark, significant themes like infidelity and drug abuse but Arcand's approach is so flat and vanilla that none of it gets explored with even the slightest bit of depth or intelligence. I have no idea how this film received such high praise from critics foreign and domestic. You can't live in a world where a true auteur such as Arnaud Desplechin is crafting ensemble character dramas that are so vivid and fascinating, and then look at this garbage and think it's anything worth watching.

runamokprods An intelligent, witty, barbed, but still emotional film about; death, family, friends, class, intellectuals, hard headed capitalists vs. soft headed socialists and more. A sequel (17 years later!) to 'Decline of the American Empire'. the film finds the same characters gathering together around the impending death from cancer of their Falstaffian friend Remy. While it's a bit 'prettified' about the pain and indignities of dying from cancer it's honest and funny and true about the compromises we make in life, the fact that few of us ever live up to our dreams and ideals, and even when we do, we sacrifice something in the process. A film where the final reconciliations feel earned and complex, not Hollywood easy. And where irony dances gracefully with sentiment.

OkayDoood The characters are the source of this movie's greatness. I watched Decline of the American Empire, and grew to like the characters. After Invasions of the Barbarians, I came to love them, and wept when one of them had to go.This dialogue heavy movie discuss social ills, life and its passing, love, family, and friendship; all in the context of a dying Remy Girard. They touch on generational differences between children and their parents in an ever changing world, post 9/11.I was deeply moved with how these characters still had such a love of life despite the fact that their friend was dying. I was touched - genuinely.