The Barbarian Invasions review

Although he has been making films since the 1960s, French-Canadian director Denys Arcand first came to international attention with his 1985 hit The Decline of the American Empire, in which four academics put the world to rights over the course of a dinner party. Since then, Arcand has become something of a darling on the international scene with arthouse hits including Jesus of Montreal, Leolo and Love and Human Remains.

The Barbarian Invasions is something of a sequel to The Decline of the American Empire. Eighteen years later, one of the dinner party guests is dying. Remy is 54 and lying in a crowded public hospital, visited by his wife (Marie-Josee Croze), his academic colleagues and numerous mistresses. Remy is ebullient (often even a bully), and lies in state pontificating on the world around him as death looms even closer.

But when Remy's son Stephane arrives (Stephane Rousseau), his situation alters. A wheeler dealer on the London stock exchange, Stephane immediately has a new private room constructed for his father, plies him with drugs that he obtains from the street, and generally invokes a party atmosphere for his father's dying days, with a flurry of guests arriving daily to cheer Remy up. Despite these efforts, however, Stephane is unable to find the one thing that he really wants - the chance to tell his often insensitive father that he loves him. As Remy's condition worsens and the inevitable becomes a reality, the gang kidnap him from the hospital in order to speed him to a comfortable and loving death in a woodland cottage they have obtained for the situation.

This is a hugely talkative affair in which characterisation and dialogue are given much more importance than action or plot. With the cast largely playing a group of academics, the dialogue revolves around metaphysics, the meaning of life, love and everything else as well. The odd crack at the US finds its way in also, notably with a refreshing challenge on the country with an erudite argument about the effect of 9/11.

The actors give their all (Croze won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival),and the naturalistic style is somewhat comparable to the work of Mike Leigh (many of the characters have the same first name as the actors playing them). However, like some of Leigh's weaker moments, characterisation often leads to caricature, and this is what will turn many people off the film. Quite simply, the characters appear wooden, unbelievable and often dislikeable. In a character driven film this is a big problem. Your reaction to The Barbarian Invasions will depend on how you take the first ten minutes: joy at finding an old group of friends, or irritation which is only likely to become increasingly trying.