Days of Darkness
- Written and directed by Denys Arcand
- Starring Jean-Marc Labrèche, Diane Kruger and Emma de Caunes
- Classification: 14A
- Rating:
The final chapter of the trilogy that began with The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and continued with the Oscar-winning The Barbarian Invasions (2003), Days of Darkness ( L'Âge des ténèbres) has neither that chatty brilliance of the former nor the elegiac emotion of the latter. Instead, Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand delivers a satire on modern life, Quebec in particular, that feels a little long in the tooth - although the film is not without its pleasures, including some characteristic zany humour and sharp barbs.
Jean-Marc Leblanc (comic actor and Quebec TV fixture Marc Labrèche) lives in an affluent designer suburb, a long commute away from the somewhat dystopian Montreal where he works processing futile civil-rights cases for the government. A contemporary Walter Mitty, the middle-aged Jean-Marc escapes his humdrum career and uninspired family life by entering a "secret life" in which he is a modest literary and screen celebrity, nuzzling with actress Veronica Star (Diane Kruger) and fighting off a bevy of other fantasy femmes (including his politically correct boss in sex-slave get-up).
Although Labrèche gives a solid performance, there isn't much to like or loathe about Jean-Marc - he's a milquetoast, lacking any semblance of a spark. Even his fantasies are getting boring. You know he's a decent guy deep down because he regularly visits his senile mother, the only person to whom he unburdens himself. Otherwise, you might think he's just a crybaby; the sad sacks who visit his cubicle at the department of civil rights are in far worse straits.
Things start to unravel - on the ground and in his imagination - when Jean-Marc's successful real-estate agent wife heads to Toronto for an extended seminar, his cue that the marriage is at least temporarily off and he can start speed dating. He pairs up with a strange woman who is seriously into role-playing.
On their first "date," they attend a well-attended mock medieval tournament, where Jean-Marc plays humble page to her virgin princess. He bumbles to a victory in the tournament, but all he gets as reward is a few minutes to fumble at his date's bosom.
The sequence is funny (not to mention an apt send-up of the virtual fantasy world where millions of grownups "dress up" and indulge in swordplay), but it's a far too elaborate way to make the tired point that fantasies usually fall flat when they're acted out.
In general, Jean-Marc's fantasies of celebrity and women are the least interesting part of Days of Darkness. His real world is far more intriguing to watch: The Olympic Stadium is now a massive government office where armed guards patrol the perimeter looking for illegal smoking; his wife and two daughters are perpetually plugged into electronic devices, even during a family canoe trip; commuters gab on cellphones through face masks protecting them from the latest deadly bacteria.
When a couple of real-life events finally shake him up, Jean-Marc abandons fantasy and literally escapes. (How convenient that he is privileged enough to camp out at his late father's lakeshore cabin and gather his thoughts.) As you watch the gentle, slow finale, you realize Days of Darkness is less about modern society than it is about a mundane midlife crisis. At least Walter Mitty had the imagination to face the firing squad.
Days of Darkness opens today in Vancouver and Toronto. Special to The Globe and Mail