The Decline of the American Empire

Four university history professors, three married and one gay, gather at a country retreat and prepare a large meal for the evening. They talk about their sex lives. Meanwhile their wives are at a health club. They too trade dirty secrets. Finally they all converge for the big dinner and the knives come out... Arcand has assembled a band of middle class professionals, sinking onto that middle-age plateau of resignation, and with little to occupy their minds but the pursuit of personal pleasure. His achievement is to make the subject appear by turns black and satiric, without ever falling out of love with his characters. A penetrating, discomforting study; recommended for all those who worry about feeling too smug about their private lives. CPea.