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THE FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
Director: Denys Arcand Cast: Alexandre Landry, Maripier Morin, Rémy Girard, Louis Morissette, Maxim Roy, Pierre Curzi, Vincent Leclerc, Patrick Emmanuel Abellard, Florence Longpre, Eddy King, Genevieve Schmidt, Paul Doucet, Denis Bouchard, Yan England, David Savard, Rose-Marie Perreault, Alain Goulem, Catherine Paquin-Bechard MPAA Rating: (for some strong violence, sexual content/nudity and language) Running Time: 2:07 Release Date: 5/31/19 (limited); 6/7/19 (wider) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 6, 2019 With The Fall of the American Empire, writer/director Denys Arcand has made a satire about crime and high finance—as well as crime by way of high finance and high finance as a means of getting away with crime—with a jumbled purpose and too many blind spots. Its targets are pretty obvious, although Arcand's intentions are never clear. The movie condemns the notion of international financial trading and banking as a means of evading taxes, unless, apparently, the people doing it are just good-hearted enough to excuse their many other flaws. There might be a deeper point here—something to do with both the predatory nature of the financial world and the uselessness of government. The cops basically allow the protagonists to get away with a scheme, and the main character's desire to help the homeless is necessary because no one else will. If such a goal exists in Arcand's mind, though, it's lost to a group of clichéd or unsympathetic characters, a broad plot that involves the hiding of millions in cash and the criminal underworld, and a satirical approach that takes quick potshots instead of focusing its aim. After witnessing the robbery of a local gangster, the self-aggrandizing Pierre-Paul (Alexandre Landry), who has a doctorate in philosophy but works for a delivery service, takes two duffel bags filled with an inordinate amount of money. He enlists the aid of Sylvain (Rémy Girard), a former biker recently released from prison for money laundering, to help him figure out how to legitimize his newfound fortune. Meanwhile, the gangsters and a pair of cops are looking for the money, and Pierre-Paul also falls for a high-class sex worker named Camille (Marpier Morin), who possesses a secret heart of gold. The plot, which builds up multiple threads only to drop them unceremoniously when they get in the way, is nearly as messy as Arcand's confused intentions. The jokes are either throwaways or contradictory, and by the end, we have no idea where the filmmaker stands on anything. The Fall of the American Empire mostly ignores that our hero—the philosopher whose elevated sense of his self-worth is left unquestioned, despite plenty of evidence that it isn't deserved—is perhaps the most in need of a good mocking. Unfortunately, it seems as if Arcand is entirely and erroneously on his side. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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