Denys Arcand's Le Declin de l'empire americain and Les Invasions barbares / / André Loiselle.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Loiselle, André,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (200 p.)

The release of Denys Arcand's Le Déclin de l'empire américain (The Decline of the American Empire) in 1986 marked a major turning point in Quebec cinema. It was the first Québécois film that enjoyed huge critical and commercial success at home and abroad. Arcand's tragicomedy about eight intellectuals gathered around a dinner table relating sexy anecdotes became the top-grossing film of all time in Quebec and was the first Canadian feature to be nominated for an Oscar in the foreign-language category. Seventeen years later, Arcand won an Academy Award for the sequel, Les Invasions barbares (The Barbarian Invasions), where the amusing insouciance of the thirty-somethings talking dirty in Le Déclin is replaced by a sense of moral responsibility and serene resignation. In this engrossing study, André Loiselle presents the first in-depth analysis of both films within the context of Quebec culture. Through close readings and concise cultural analysis of two of the most important films in the history of Quebec cinema, Loiselle demonstrates the ways in which Arcand's work represents a snapshot of the evolution of the French Canadian film industry since 1980. The companion films trace the decline of Quebec's national dream and the Québécois' attempts to cling to their identity against the forces of barbaric globalization. The second title in the new Canadian Cinema series, Denys Arcand's "Le Déclin de l'empire américain" and "Les Invasions barbares" is essential reading for cinephiles, film critics, and anyone with an interest in cultural studies and Canadian and Quebec history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- LE DÉCLIN DE L'EMPIRE AMÉRICAIN -- 1. The Production and Reception of Scabrous Conversations -- 2. The Decline of Patriarchy and the Death of the Feminine -- 3. The Death of Quebec History -- 4. Friends in the Landscape, or Was Louise Right All Along? -- LES INVASIONS BARBARES -- 5. From an Obsession with Death to an Oscar -- 6. 'Death of a Bon Vivant': A Tragicomedy in Three Acts -- 7. Sex, Death, and the Cinema -- Conclusion: Sex, Death and Boredom -- Filmography -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Backmatter