L'âge des ténèbres (2007)

Director:

Denys Arcand

Writer:

Denys Arcand (writer)

Release Date:

26 September 2007 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Jean-Marc Leblanc (Labrèche), a desperate civil servant, escapes reality as we all know it, to imagine himself as the hero in imaginary adventures. |

Awards:

1 win & 10 nominations

Cast

Marc Labrèche	...	Jean-Marc Leblanc
Diane Kruger	...	Véronica Star
Sylvie Léonard	...	Sylvie Cormier-LeBlanc
Caroline Néron	...	Carole Bigras-Bourque
Rufus Wainwright	...	Le jeune prince / Le prince chantant
Macha Grenon	...	Béatrice de Savoie
Emma de Caunes	...	Karine Tendance
Didier Lucien	...	William Chérubin
Rosalie Julien	...	Laurence Métivier
Jean-René Ouellet	...	Policier / St-Bernard de Clairvaux
André Robitaille	...	Gilles Sansregret
Hugo Giroux	...	Thorvald
Christian Bégin	...	Le motivateur par le rire
Pierre Curzi	...	Pierre
Gilles Pelletier	...	Raymond Leclerc

Also Known As:

Days of Darkness (Canada: English title)
The Age of Ignorance (International: English title)

Runtime:

Canada:104 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Canada

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A | Brazil:16 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Laval, Québec, Canada

Company:

Cinémaginaire Inc.

Trivia:

Canada's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Extremely entertaining black/dark comedy

Saw this recently at the Canadian film festival.

I was expecting to be let down by this film (as Arcand set the bar very high with his previous films. However I was pleasantly surprised and found this to be very, very entertaining.

With the opening shower scene and the fact that his wife is a real estate agent there are obvious comparisons to American Beauty.

Ulimately I think Arcand covers more ground in his film and you can't help but laugh at his very dark and also very accurate observations on modern life in a big city.

From ridiculous government bureaucracy to disconnection through mobile phones and MP3 players, speed dating and relationships in general Arcand is dead on.

I guess the only thing I didn't quite agree with was the notion of moving to the country house away from the city and it's craziness and everything will be just fine.

I guess it is ultimately sad that this is a pretty accurate depiction of modern society in many western countries right now. The level of disconnection among people is both sad and and frustrating.

But I loved the honesty in the film and found it extremely entertaining and much funnier than his other films.