Denys Arcand's "The Fall of the American Empire (La chute de l'empire américain)" with good intentions tries to explore the blue-collar class within a larger context of political corruption and economy distribution. As a love story it has charm, witty but good romantic dialogue between the main actors: Alexandre Landry as Pierre-Paul Daoust and Maripier Morin (Canada's Reality TV sta) as Aspasie/Camille Lafontaine.
Their good acting and chemistry carried out this 2 hour film, alongside supporting cast portraying corrupted police, thugs and politicians. But what was feels quite uneasy the film's references to oppression, via Montreal's homelessness and "first nations" Inuit people. Although, it making connections to the philosophy spewed by Landry's character (representing the blue-collar heroe, almost the film's consciousness), it falls weak.
At times within the films it shows Intuit people homeless in the streets with close-up facial shots, it displays them as a nameless and voiceless group. One can admire its artistic device, but it feel very patronizing. Then another element is all the maim characters are played by white Canadians, only a few people of color in the supporting cast playing typecast characters.
As a love story it works brilliantly but as a film exploring social themes and it gets muddied
Their good acting and chemistry carried out this 2 hour film, alongside supporting cast portraying corrupted police, thugs and politicians. But what was feels quite uneasy the film's references to oppression, via Montreal's homelessness and "first nations" Inuit people. Although, it making connections to the philosophy spewed by Landry's character (representing the blue-collar heroe, almost the film's consciousness), it falls weak.
At times within the films it shows Intuit people homeless in the streets with close-up facial shots, it displays them as a nameless and voiceless group. One can admire its artistic device, but it feel very patronizing. Then another element is all the maim characters are played by white Canadians, only a few people of color in the supporting cast playing typecast characters.
As a love story it works brilliantly but as a film exploring social themes and it gets muddied