REVIEW BY LACHLAN MALLOCH
The Barbarian Invasions
Written and directed by Denys Arcand
With Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau and Marie-Josee Croze
Opens nationally April 8.
In the beginning, Australian audiences could be forgiven for thinking The Barbarian Invasions to be a very "foreign" film. It is spoken in French, set in Quebec and sets up a very Continental-style dichotomy between a father's love for art, indulgence and social democracy and his son's asceticism, lack of culture and love of capitalism.
However director Denys Arcand endears us to his universal themes — his subtly crafted characters are as familiar as our own friends and neighbours.
Remy (Remy Girard) is an ageing, left-wing Quebecois university lecturer, a notorious womaniser, who has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His ex-wife asks their yuppie son Sebastien (Stephane Rousseau) to come home from London, where he is working as a stock market trader. Sebastien's and Remy's opposing politics mean they have been estranged for years, yet Sebastien agrees to come home.
At one level, the rest of the film deals with a father and son's grudging, gradual reconciliation. But Arcand's superb writing and delicately balanced direction weave a fascinatingly complex picture, as he examines the relationships between the other characters, and wryly observes the crisis of social democracy.
The other characters are introduced via Sebastien's valiant attempts to make his father's last days more enjoyable. Among other things, Sebastien arranges for an irreverent and endearing bunch of Remy's old friends and ex-lovers to join him by his bedside.
Much of the ensuing drama centres on Remy reminiscing, as he tries to find ways of dealing with death. Initially he is stubborn and defiant. He compares the insignificance of his own death to the genocide of Native Americans: "The history of mankind is a history of horrors!" And he makes excuses for the chaos in the public hospital: "I voted for Medicare, I'll accept the consequences."
Arcand's portrayal of the crisis of social democracy recurs throughout the film. The corruption of union officials and police, the "champagne socialism" of people with access to state funding, the meaning of 9/11 (when the "barbarians invaded"), the farcical public health system, the illegality of drugs, euthanasia and even the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church all make an appearance.
But as his last day draws near, it becomes abundantly clear that for left-wing Remy himself, womanising has decisively won against politics as life's noblest pursuit. The film's funniest scene sees Remy recall how his urge to impress a woman once saw him even go so far as to praise the murderous Chinese Cultural Revolution.
It then dawns on Remy that perhaps the real "barbarian invasion" that is taking place is the impending entry to the afterlife of a "cretin" such as himself.
The Barbarian Invasions thoroughly deserves the Academy Award it won this year. It's another foreign language antidote to Hollywood's constant stream of right-wing special effects blockbusters.
From Green Left Weekly, April 21, 2004.
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