Product Details

• Actors: Dominique Michel, Dorothée Berryman, Louise Portal, Pierre Curzi, Rémy Girard
• Directors: Denys Arcand
• Writers: Denys Arcand
• Producers: Pierre Gendron, René Malo, Roger Frappier
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios Ho
• VHS Release Date: June 11, 1987
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300185982
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,727 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

You've never seen a sex comedy quite like The Decline of the American Empire. That's because there's no sex in this comedy--just a lot of entertaining talk about it (and a few discreet flashbacks). The speakers are eight Montreal academics. For most of the film, the men--Rémy (Rémy Girard), Claude (Yves Jacques), Pierre (Pierre Curzi), and Alain (Daniel Brière)--fix dinner while talking about sex. The women--Dominique (Dominique Michel), Louise (Dorothée Berryman), Diane (Louise Portal), and Danielle (Geneviève Rioux)--work out while talking about sex. That evening, they all gather for dinner... and talk about sex. The Decline of the American Empire made the reputation of writer-director Denys Arcand, but his greatest success would arrive 17 years later with The Barbarian Invasions. In that 2003 Oscar-winner, Arcand revisits the lovably loquacious characters from the first film, all of whom are older, wiser--and just as obsessed with sex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable watch, though not as good as its sequel., October 31, 2004

By 

Ranajoy Raychaudhuri (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Decline of the American Empire [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I guess like a lot of other viewers, I hadn't watched "The Decline of the American Empire" until after I had watched its sequel. Four men and four women get together in a house by the lakeside in Quebec and what follows will keep you engrossed till the end. Director Denys Arcand has the characters play out how they would spend a normal holiday, but "normal" for them has a slightly different meaning than for us ordinary folks.

There's a much younger Remy, the professor at the University of Laval, womanizer par excellence, alongside his (comparatively) straightlaced wife Louise. Pierre, the host, is seeing Danielle, a history student at the university, who was his masseur at a parlor where he is a regular. Their gay friend Claude lives alone because of his compulsive urges to cruise. Then there's the naive and innocent Alain, both Remy and Pierre's ex-mistress Dominique and finally Diane, who's in a BDSM relationship with a guy who scoffs at Claude's Russian trout dish, wine and pilsner but still turns him on as he resembles one of his ex-lovers. The movie follows their conversations over the course of the day, the night and the next morning, interspersed with flashbacks. As Louise says to the BDSM guy, intellectuals love to talk ... and boy, do they talk! Constantly trading barbs, reeling off historical accounts, offering informed opinions on issues (though not as engaging as those in the sequel) and above all, discussing their sex lives (which are nothing short of spectacular) ... the interchanges won't feel dull for a moment. Remy, as usual, is utterly lovable in his depravity.

On a personal note, I like "The Barbarian Invasions" better as I feel that Arcand has refined his style even more over the years so that he is at his peak by this time, but nevertheless this is an enjoyable (if a bit uneven) watch ... not to mention the deja vu that fills you the entire time as you recognize the characters and relate to them as scenes from the other movie come back to you.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's talk about sex, March 13, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Decline of the American Empire (DVD)

Four middle-aged successful couples examine the sexual revolution. The men all meet and talk (they are preparing a dinner), and the women all meet, too (in a gym). The movie is almost all talk as each person reveals his or her own story and feelings. They then all meet and talk some more, and some illusions are destroyed via certain betrayals. It's rare to see such a sophisticated film, though it's very stagey and not very dramatic. (At one point a man, not part of the group, says, "All they do is talk about sex and then sit down to a fish dinner.") An interesting picture, though, for the most part. In French.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pithy, straight to the heart view of people and humanity., March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Decline of the American Empire [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of the warmest, coolest and most bracing films I have seen. I cried with laughter and sadness and realisition at a film that is refreshingly bold about human weakness and strengths. Very funny, stirring, sad...true. SEE THIS FILM.