This page concerns the 2003 film. For the "barbarian invasions" of Europe, see Migration Period.

The Barbarian Invasions
Original film poster
Directed by	Denys Arcand
Produced by	Daniel Louis Denys Robert
Written by	Denys Arcand
Starring	Rémy Girard Stéphane Rousseau Dorothée Berryman Louise Portal Marie-Josée Croze Marina Hands
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	Cannes premiere: May 21, 2003 France: September 24, 2003 United States: November 21, 2003 United Kingdom: February 20, 2004 Australia: April 1, 2004
Running time	112 minutes
Country	Canada France
Language	French
Budget	US$5,000,000
Preceded by	The Decline of the American Empire
Followed by	Days of Darkness

The Barbarian Invasions (French: Les Invasions barbares) is a 2003 French Canadian comedy-drama film 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 Téléfilm 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.

[edit] Plot

Continuing seventeen years after Arcand's 1986 film The Decline of the American Empire, the movie centres on an exploration of the characters first met in the original film and their children, newly introduced. The older generation are still largely socialist and proponents of Québécois nationalism, but both political and economic developments since the 1970s, as well as their own aging, make this stance seem somewhat anachronistic.

The plot revolves around the character Rémy's battle with terminal cancer, and the efforts of Sébastien, his estranged son to make his dying father more comfortable in his last days. Finally the father and son travel to Vermont in the United States to received medical care.

Sébastien has reluctantly returned from London at the request of Rémy's ex-wife Louise, where he has a successful career in quantitative finance - anathema to his father's socialist tendencies. However, this background helps Sébastien to navigate and manipulate Quebec's failing healthcare system on his father's behalf. In the process, he also gathers the various other friends and family members from Rémy's past who come to visit and comfort him. During Rémy's last days, he and his friends travel to the cottage of the first film, and discuss philosophy, politics, and past sexual and intellectual exploits.

[edit] Cast

• Rémy Girard as Rémy
• Dominique Michel as Dominique
• Dorothée Berryman as Louise
• Louise Portal as Diane
• Pierre Curzi as Pierre
• Yves Jacques as Claude
• Stéphane Rousseau as Sébastien
• Marie-Josée Croze as Nathalie
• Mitsou Gélinas as Ghislaine
• Micheline Lanctôt as Nurse Carole
• Johanne-Marie Tremblay as Sister Constance
• Roy Dupuis as Narcotics Officer Gilles Levac
• Marina Hands as Gaëlle

[edit] Awards

The film won France's 2004 César Award for Best Picture and Best Director, plus Best Original Screenplay for Denys Arcand. It also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards, the first Canadian film to actually win the award, in 2004 (Arcand had been previously nominated for 'Invasions' predecessor The Decline of the American Empire and Jesus of Montreal). As of 2006, this Oscar is on public display at the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City as part of an exhibit about the cinema of Quebec.

At the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, it won two awards: Best Screenplay Award and Best Actress Award for Marie-Josée Croze.^[1]

The film also won five Jutra Awards and six Genie Awards, as well as prizes at other international festivals (Bangkok International Film Festival, Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, Toronto International Film Festival, Czech Lions).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Barbarian Invasions at the Internet Movie Database
• The Barbarian Invasions at Allmovie
• The Barbarian Invasions at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Barbarian Invasions at Metacritic
• The Barbarian Invasions at Box Office Mojo

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Nowhere in Africa  Germany	Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2003	Succeeded by The Sea Inside  Spain
Preceded by The Pianist	César Award for Best Film 2004	Succeeded by Games of Love and Chance

v • d • e César Award for Best Film 1976: Le Vieux Fusil (The Old Gun) • 1977: Monsieur Klein (Mr. Klein) • 1978: Providence • 1979: L’Argent des autres • 1980: Tess • 1981: Le Dernier Métro (The Last Metro) • 1982: La Guerre du feu (Quest for Fire) • 1983: La Balance • 1984: Le Bal (The Ball) and À nos amours (To Our Loves) • 1985: Les Ripoux (My New Partner) • 1986: Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle) • 1987: Thérèse • 1988: Au revoir les enfants (Goodbye, Children) • 1989: Camille Claudel • 1990: Trop belle pour toi (Too Beautiful for You) • 1991: Cyrano de Bergerac • 1992: Tous les matins du monde • 1993: Les Nuits fauves (Savage Nights) • 1994: Smoking/No Smoking • 1995: Les Roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds) • 1996: La Haine • 1997: Ridicule • 1998: On connaît la chanson (Same Old Song) • 1999: La Vie rêvée des anges (The Dreamlife of Angels) • 2000: Vénus beauté (institut) (Venus Beauty Institute) • 2001: Le Goût des autres (The Taste of Others) • 2002: Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (Amélie) • 2003: Le Pianiste (The Pianist) • 2004: Les Invasions barbares (The Barbarian Invasions) • 2005: L’Esquive (Games of Love and Chance) • 2006: De battre mon cœur s’est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) • 2007: Lady Chatterley • 2008: La Graine et le Mulet (The Secret of the Grain) • 2009: Séraphine