Remy, divorced and in his early fifties, is hospitalized. His ex-wife, Louise, asks their son Sebastien to come home from London where he now lives. Sebastien hesitates; he and his father haven’t had much to say to one another for years now. He relents, however, and flies to Montreal to help his mother and support his father.
As soon as he arrives, Sibastien moves heaven and earth, brings his contacts into play and disrupts the system in every way possible to ease the ordeal that awaits Rimy. He also reunites the merry band that marked Rimy’s past around his father’s bedside: relatives, friends and former mistresses.
What have they become in this age of “barbarian invasions”? Are the old irreverence, friendship and truculence still there? Do humor, hedonism and desire still inhabit their dreams? In the age of the barbarian invasions, the decline of the American empire continues.
The Barbarian Invasions (French: Les Invasions barbares) is a French-Canadian comedy-drama film written and directed by Denys Arcand. It is the sequel to Arcand’s earlier film The Decline of the American Empire and is followed by Days of Darkness. The film was produced by companies from both Canada and France, including Telefilm Canada, Société Radio-Canada and Canal+. It was released in 2003 and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004.
Directed by: Denys Arcand
Starring: Louise Portal, Yves Jacques, Pierre Curzi, Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau, Marie-Jose Croze, Marina Hands, Dorothy Berryman, Johanne Marie Tremblay
Screenplay by: Denys Arcand
Production Design by: François Séguin
Cinematography by: Guy Dufaux
Film Editing by: Isabelle Dedieu
Costume Design by: Denis Sperdouklis
Set Decoration by; Patrice Bengle, Annika Krausz
Music by: Pierre Aviat
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual dialogue, drug content.
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: November 23, 2003
