THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
(Denys Arcand / 1986 / 97 Mins / 35mm / Cert 18)

With Denys Arcane picking up the Best Foreign Film Oscar for his latest work THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS the Cube offers you the chance to revisit 2 of his early acclaimed features. The Decline of the American Empire is the prequel to his new film, and concentrates on the relationships of eight friends, gathering in a secluded retreat around Lake Memphremagog, Montreal.

Sexual revelations are exposed over dinner, as Rémy and Pierre, two ageing Lotharios, proudly discuss their conquests and infidelities, as the innocent Alain and elegant homosexual Claude listen in. The conversation becomes increasingly misogynistic and the men begin to spar in ribald one-upmanship, with accounts of discovered infidelities, coitus interruptus and dirty allusions to oysters.
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Winner of 1986 Film Critics Award, Cannes, Arcand's satirical comedy is a an uncompromisingly cerebral and frank conversation about sex.