The latest film from Quebec auteur Denys Arcand is a crime caper about an impoverished Montreal philosophy PhD who happens across $12-million and tries to launder it, with the help of a high-priced escort and a former gangster. Provocatively, Arcand calls this movie about money The Fall of the American Empire, harking back to The Decline of the American Empire, his 1986 hit about the sex life of Quebec intellectuals.
Where does the plot come from? I read somewhere that it was based on an actual news story.
One of my friends who is a script writer says that I have absolutely no talent. I just go and grab stuff that I know and I ask questions of people and I put that in my script. It’s true. I have no imagination. I research so much; it’s all based on facts. I work more as a journalist than as a fiction writer.
There was this horrible holdup in Montreal where this fake fashion boutique was held up by two guys who just came in and shot everybody. They did it at noon, in broad daylight. The violence of the whole thing struck me. I did some research and the story evolved into me asking myself: “What would I do with $12-million in two hockey bags knowing that this was not stolen from some poor widow?” It was basically drug money. Do you call the mob and say: “I have your money; would you like to come get it?” or do you keep it for yourself? Or do you call the police? … And I knew that I wanted an intelligent character for a change.
For a change!
Well, in movies in general, people are very dumb. They find money and they go and party, or buy a big car and the police find them the next week. If my hero was really intelligent, he would hide the money and then try to find people who would help him launder it. So where do you find these people? This story led me to money laundering and other stuff: If these people have a lot of money, they would hire escorts. So, what is this universe about: high-priced escorts?
The character of Pierre-Paul, he’s smart but he’s also moral. Is it realistic to think he can give in to temptation yet not fall all the way?
He lives a dilemma. I wanted a film where the thief is a good person. He wants to give part of it away, but at the same time he is rather poor so he wants to keep some. It’s the kind of dilemma I find interesting to write about.
So what about the title? How would you relate this to The Decline of the American Empire?
I’m not even sure there is a relation. My working title was Triumph of Money, but this film was not just about money, but also about charity and compassion. I was afraid it was too reductive. So, since I had done this film called The Decline of the American Empire, inspired by the famous [Edward] Gibbon book [The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire], I thought why don’t I do Fall? It only means these times we are living in. It is not specifically about Trump and yesterday’s newscast.
Yes, but by the time you changed the title, Donald Trump had been elected and the word “fall” must be seen as a political statement …
Well, since I did Decline, 30 years ago, I have been proven right. Things are going worse and worse, so I thought, why not go with it? I was not wrong when I did the first one, so this one may float, too.
What has changed in those 30 years? Have your own politics changed?
I don’t think so. I am pretty apolitical. I never vote.
You don’t vote! Why not?
There is never a party that comes forward with a proposition that truly interests me, that I would want to vote for this policy. And also, because I think I am not representative enough. I can always get by. For instance, in the case of Quebec independence: Suppose people would vote yes and there would be terrible economic consequences. I don’t really care. I could come and work in Toronto; I could go and work in Paris or Los Angeles. So, there is no real stake for me.
You are removing yourself because it’s not fair for you to vote?
Yeah. That’s it. I am so privileged. As you say, it’s not fair. I am not going to live with the consequences.
These are provocative positions in Quebec, which we always see as a politicized society.
That’s changed. A lot. The two referendums were watersheds.
When I was young in the 1970s, people said Quebec independence was inevitable. The federalists are all old, they will die, the young will take power and independence will be inevitable. But the strange thing is that the people who were for independence are one specific generation, the baby boomers, and the younger generation, they are Liberals. If you had told these people that years ago, they would never have believed it.
The young generation is elsewhere, they are a new generation. Life is like that, it’s unpredictable.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
The Fall of the American Empire opens May 31.
Kate Taylor