The Barbarian Invasions

The Barbarian Invasions

A comedy about sex, friendship, and all other things that invade our lives.

2003 · 99 min · ★ 7.0 · Comedy, Drama

In this belated sequel to 'The Decline of the American Empire', middle-aged Montreal college professor, Remy, learns that he is dying of liver cancer. His ex-wife, Louise, asks their estranged son, Sebastian, a successful businessman living in London, to come home. Sebastian makes the impossible happen, using his contacts and disrupting the Canadian healthcare system in every way possible to help his father fight his terminal illness to the bitter end, while reuniting some of Remy's old friends, including Pierre, Alain, Dominique, Diane, and Claude, who return to see their friend before he passes on.

Directed by Denys Arcand · Written by Denys Arcand

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Cast

Rémy Girard Rémy
Stéphane Rousseau Sébastien
Marie-Josée Croze Nathalie
Dorothée Berryman Louise
Louise Portal Diane Leonard
Dominique Michel Dominique St. Arnaud
Pierre Curzi Pierre Citrouillard
Yves Jacques Claude
Marina Hands Gaëlle
Sophie Lorain First Lover
Johanne-Marie Tremblay Sister Constance Lazure
Mitsou Gélinas Ghislaine

Make it a double feature

3h 14m together

The Barbarian Invasions

Shooting Star

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Four very different Montreal university teachers gather at a rambling country house to prepare a dinner. Remy (married), Claude (a homosexual), Pierre (involved with a girlfriend) and Alain (a bachelor) discuss sex, the female body and their affairs with them. Meanwhile, their four female guests, Louise (Remy's wife of 15 years), Dominique (a spinster), Diane (a divorcée) and Danielle (Pierre's girlfriend) are spending the time at a downtown health gym. They also discuss sex, the female body and, naturally, men. Later in the evening, they finally meet at the country house and have dinner. A ninth guest, named Mario, who used to know Diane, drops in on the group for some talk and has a surprise of his own.

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