I apologize for writing this in English, but it's been awhile since I lived near Quebec and my French writing's gotten very shaky. For me, a lot of the joy of the earlier films was how each character was so resoundingly human. They had faults, but at their core they had their charms and goodness that kind of cut through the cynicism. In l'Age Des Tenebres, I found that the main character was really the only character fleshed out like this, and I think the realism of the movie suffered for it. I don't think it was an absolutely horrible movie or anything, but I found it a lot more difficult and less satisfying because of this.
I think that if the movie had lighter moments like in Les Invasions Barbares (the beautiful scenery, the reunion of old friends, the son's love for his father) it would have worked better, for me at least. L'Age Des Tenebres just felt too joyless, too cynical, as if Arcand hadn't really found anything in modern culture to write about except its superficiality, and I think the direction at the end was too static and drained to give the picture the ending it seemed to be aiming for. That's why I wasn't as big of a fan. But that being said, it was funny and definitely not an unqualified failure.
reply
share