An Interview With Denys Arcand

I met Denys Arcand at the time of his first feature film La Maudite Galette (Dirty Money). At the time I was running a conference and a friend in the Quebec film industry had recommended an invitation to the film and the filmmaker be extended.

In his home province he was already famous, or at least notorious in the art's community. His controversial documentary expose on the textile industry On est au cotton had been withdrawn from distribution by the National Film Board and he and his two brothers were largely credited with creating a new argot that everyone spoke. The seminal Quebec film Le Viol d'une jeunne fille douce (Rape of a Sweet Young Thing), a social satire, was inspired by some of the trio's more outrageous conduct.

There was every expectation that a wild, flamboyant character would arrive at the event. Instead, Arcand turned out to be witty, urbane and charming. He literally and figuratively towered over the other participants, injecting humor and insight into a panel and screening program that grappled with the fledgling and precarious Canadian scene.

Lunch with Arcand is like a reunion. In the course of several decades our paths have crossed professionally and personally many times in Cannes, Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles. We have common friends and acquaintances, so the subject of his new film Les Invasions barbares (The Barbarian Invasions) - a multiple award winner at Cannes - fights for attention with news and tidbits about friends on both sides of the border.

His wife and sometime producer Denise Robert is with him and she has an additional hit, having also produced Mambo Italiano.

"It's great," Arcand says in regard to nothing obvious. "You know, to have a popular movie. It's not Pirates of the Caribbean but it's been my biggest hit in Quebec and France. I'm not someone that makes movies where you say it's going to be a big success. The films aren't obvious; they don't have stars."

During the long ago conference, Arcand was scribbling away at Rejeanne Padavoni, a scathing view of politics and corruption that would be invited to Cannes and gain him initial international attention. A decade later he would have back-to-back successes and Oscar nominations with Decline of the American Empire and Jesus of Montreal.

But there was also disappointment and failure. His English-language Stardom was the closing night presentation at Cannes in 1999 and he was poised for a great success.

"The day after the festival I ran into (Unifrance President) Toscan du Plantier at the airport and he said he had a wonderful time at the film. He said he loved the biting humor and paused, looked at me and added, do you think anyone will get it? I was kind of stunned and he was gone. I thought what a strange thing to say but those words kind of haunted me for the next year as the film opened and people didn't get it."

Robert is less sentimental about the film which she feels, in hindsight, was sometimes compromised by producers, distributors and financers who insisted on making it "commercial."

Arcand's French producer on Stardom passed on The Barbarian Invasions, claiming the tale of death, reconciliation and friendship had zero commercial appeal. It has been a huge hit there, grossing more than $7 million to date in addition to the $6 million it's done in Quebec.

The film reintroduces several characters from Decline of the American Empire from 1986 but it is hardly a typical sequel. One need not be familiar with the earlier film to appreciate the story. Arcand assumes most of his audience haven't seen the earlier movie and, at best, might know it by reputation. He himself never consciously sought to revisit the film or its characters.

"I don't know why but about 20 years ago when I turned 40, I became obsessed with death," he says. "I wrote a very bad script, humorless, and sent it to the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company). Considering all the terrible stuff they make, I was a little surprised when they turned me down."

He would return to the subject, again and again, trying to rework the first story or create a new fiction. When he brings up the subject of suicide, he senses my discomfort and gives me a hard look.

"Yes, Jutra, I know. I counted 11 friends that committed suicide."

Jutra was Claude Jutra, the Quebec filmmaker everyone expected to join the ranks of the greats. His 1971 Mon Oncle Antoine has been cited as the best Canadian film ever made in several polls. It was also the zenith of his career and all his subsequent work - including several excellent films - was considered disappointing when measured by that yardstick. His personal tragedy accelerated when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and in the winter of 1986 disappeared, his body discovered in the St. Lawrence only after the spring thaw.

"There is a whole history of tragedy that's touched Quebec filmmakers," Arcand notes. "You have to think about it - Lauzon, Francis Mankiewicz, many others. Maybe that's what was in the back of my mind."

Whatever spurred him on, the idea of The Barbarian Invasions was an inexplicable thought that occurred while he was taking a hot shower.

"I get my best ideas in the shower and I just said aloud, what if Remy had cancer?"

Remy, a professor with a bit of the satyr from Decline of the American Empire, finds both his health and physical stamina rapidly depleting in the new film. He's trying to mend fences with his estranged son, battling the constraints and limitations of public health and extending himself emotionally.

"Once I had that tiny, little idea, I could see the whole thing. It was the easiest script for me to write. It's like that terrible thing they say about it writing itself."