This is the story of a youngish, mid-thirties fellow named Pierre-Paul
(Alexandre Landry), a sweet, mild-mannered yet somewhat distracted French
Canadian in Montreal. A self-proclaimed intellectual - with a Ph.D. in
philosophy, in fact – Pierre-Paul is, despite his smarts, a bit stuck. Emotional
commitment, it seems, is a thing that Pierre-Paul does not understand,
notwithstanding his many years of book-learning and presumed big brain. The little love-life he had over the past several
months ends abruptly minutes into the story, because his erstwhile girlfriend,
Linda (Florence Longpré), who admires and perhaps even
loves him, walks off in dismay and frustration over his inability to
reciprocate, even a little.
For another thing, Pierre-Paul is burdened with the knowledge
that there is no place in the world for intelligent people, particularly those
who know their moral philosophy and are encumbered not only with brains but with
scruples as well. So, he earns his living as a package delivery person. (At
least it pays better than teaching, he sighs.) Then again, he doesn’t need a
lot of money. He lives simply enough, and actually gives quite a bit away to
homeless people and others in need.
One day, however, Pierre-Paul’s life takes an interesting
turn. On a delivery to a warehouse, he arrives in the immediate aftermath of a burglary
gone awry. The police have not yet arrived and there’s nobody around, except a
couple of bloody bodies on the ground along with two large duffel bags full of cash
– I mean LOTS of cash. Anybody would be tempted to dip into all this money,
even a high-minded philosopher. But as police sirens draw closer, Pierre-Paul
doesn’t dip. Perhaps he had been listening to Pink Floyd’s song Money,
with the lyric “Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash”, for that’s
just what does, quickly depositing the loot into his delivery truck.
As one might expect, this amount of dough is connected to
some dark dealings; and it is not much of a stretch to imagine that agents of
the dark side might be very interested in finding out who has their money and
in getting it back. Pierre-Paul, being somewhat of a naïf, does not fully appreciate
the danger of his situation, until police investigators Carla and Pete,
themselves suspicious of him, explain this. Even so, it takes a while to sink
in.
Pierre-Paul decides he wants to hold on to his hoard. He enlists the services of a financially astute, just-paroled former crime kingpin, Silvain ‘The Brain’ Bigras, to, um, “invest” the ill-gotten fortune without the thugs or the cops getting wise to the scheme. Th idea is to use
the money for good works. Mostly. He does skim a few hundred bucks off the top to
engage the services of Aspasie (Maripier Morin), the highest of the high-class call-girls
in Montreal and the most expensive; then promptly falls madly in love with her.
She has a heart of gold, of course, and possessing considerably more savvy than
Pierre-Paul, decides to help him.
Complications ensue and build, as they must, and the result
is an endearing and amusing lightly suspenseful old-fashioned caper movie. Think of To Catch A Thief (1955) or Charade
(1963) to get a sense of the mood – although The Fall of the American
Empire is not quite in their league.
But what’s with that title? The movie takes place in Canada.
Well, writer-director Denys Arcand has faced a career-long dilemma. On the one
hand, he wants to make movies that get his audiences to think – about meta-issues
of the day in our mixed up, muddled up world; on the other hand, he wants his
films to be entertaining. In his first major feature film, similarly titled The
Decline of the American Empire (1986), Arcand questioned society’s dramatically
changing values respecting sexuality and promiscuity, while telling the story
of a group of friends spending a week at a vacation cottage. In the Academy
Award winning The Barbarian Invasions (2003), ostensibly about a troubled
father-son relationship played out around the father’s deathbed, the theme concerned
a disillusionment with socialism alongside a growing disenchantment with
capitalism. The Fall of the
American Empire seems to be an attempt to get us thinking about the
folly of our obsession with wealth and money.
It’s not a particularly novel observation, and the film is hardly
polemical; certainly not a harangue. The reference to America may have to do
with the idea that the USA is the capital of the world’s money obsession, but
that’s just my guess.
The actors are all pretty good. In the lead, Landry is able
to take a character who could be annoying in his self-righteousness and make him appealing. Morin, as Aspasie, her first major acting role, does fine, too. She is also stunningly beautiful, allowing us to swallow the idea of Pierre-Paul’s instant infatuation with her. Remy Girard (who was the dying father inThe Barbarian
Invasions) is believable enough as the ex-con Sylvain, and Pierre Curzi -
who also appeared in The Barbarian Invasions – seems a natural for the
role of Wilbrod Taschereau, a big-shot lawyer specializing in money laundering.
I wouldn’t call The Fall of the American Empire
a must-see movie. It is entertaining, and if the plot doesn’t stand up to
careful analysis, the film nevertheless is likely to provide a couple hours of
amusement.
2 hours 7
minutes Rated R: for
some strong violence [2 relatively short scenes], sexual content/nudity and
language.
Grade: B
Arcand really knows how to make a movie. My only quibble is that I thought the acting was excellent and Morin who you described as stunningly beautiful is a significant understatement.
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