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E L E A N O R
M A L I N
Written & Directed by: Denys Arcand
Starring: Rémy Girard, Domenique Michel,
Louise Portal
Playing at: The Movie House
irst thing in this story, Domenique
(Domenique Michel), states in an
interview for Diane (Louise Portal),
that the American empire is in decline. She
points out that whenever a population has
‘ ‘arrived” to the point of its citizenry starting to
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think o f their individual pleasures and self-
fulfillment, that civilization has passed its
prime and is on the decline. In its more dynamic
formative state, individuals do not expect,
probably don’t even think about, personal hap
piness in marriage. Survival is the key, and the
needs and wants of the individual are sublimated.
These two women, and two others, Louise
and Danielle, get together for a lengthy workout
session, and start talking about sex. Domenique
and Diane, anyway, have spent a great deal of
their leisure time searching for sexual fulfill
ment. Their revelations range from the ordinary
— Louise would have (possibly) had a fling
with her tennis coach if husband Rémy hadn’t
stalled his car in front of hers — to the more
sensational — Diane is having an S-M affair
with a shady character and has the welts to
prove it. Domenique has paid for sex with men
on her many travels, and once with two Afri
cans they told her what to do, anyway. Louise
and Rémy went to a swingers party for profes
sional couples, and Louise had sex with another
w om an’s husband, though there was not much
to report.
Back at the ranch, four men are fixing dinner
and talking about sex. They go on at great length
about the thrill o f the conquest and kinky things
they have stumbled across. They laugh about
how women discuss their private parts and the
unwholesome afflictions they are prone to.
O f the eight principals, only Rémy and
Louise are still married. Domenique never mar
ried; Pierre and Diane are both divorced;
Claude is a homosexual, and a young male
teaching assistant approaches the ensemble
with not much to say. Danielle, the youngest of
the women, met Pierre at a massage parlor
where she performed a special on him while
discussing the bizarre goings-on during the mil
lenium. It was one of the funniest scenes in a
film packed with funny scenes. Another is
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when Rémy and Pierre demonstrate the art of
disco dancing and making small talk — some
thing they abhor, but must learn to do to court
women. “ Baryshnikov— fantastic, eh!” —
“ Acid rain — it’s terrible!”
Through skillful intercutting, we see the full
extent of the duplicity heterosexual males exer
cise in the pursuit of casual sex with women; on
the other hand, the women reveal the spiteful
tricks they play to get even with the men.
When the foursome of history profs and com
pany meet at the country estate where the men
have been cooking, they greet each other with
rather formal hugs. While each set has been
relatively spontaneous and truthful with others
o f their sex, the mix of males and females
causes a complete change in the texture of the
proceedings. Men and women can’t discuss
their innermost feelings and sexual histories
together, because their attitudes are light years
apart. When Mario, Diane’s bad and mean
looking boyfriend, breaks in on the dinner, he
scoffs at the original Pilsner beer they give him,
invites them to engage in sex, then scoffs at
them for spending all afternoon talking about it
and refusing it when it’s offered.
Though this is a consistently funny film,
plenty of serious ideas surface. Claude can talk
about cruising and AIDS, but can’t share a
startling symptom with the group. Domenique,
who has paid for sex with men, recounts how
they have stolen her passports, money, watch,
the same as Claude’s tricks have stolen from
him. Diane is actually the most at risk in her
relationship with Mario. Not much imagination
is required to note the extent to which his op
tions might reach. And she is getting addicted to
pain in a game which she says has fixed rules,
but no limits.
When Mario interrupts and insults the group,
Diane has just made a feminist speech com
plaining she will never get tenure or make full
pay since she took 10 years out to have children.
She’s embarrassed by Mario’s frankness, but
nearly breaks a leg joining him for more sensa
tional sex.
And one is aware that these historians are
recounting their own bedroom-eye view
histories without realizing they fit into the grand
plan of history being made by the moment.
At one point Diane comments to her class
that we have many more documents on the
Spanish than on the Aztecs, and many more on
men than women. She suggests historical re
cord favors winners, not losers. Less is shown
o f Claude's sex life than that of the heterosexual
males. Less is shown of the women’s previous
liaisons than of the men’s. Though Rémy dis
cusses his conquests with gusto, and it seems
that sex is important to him, it’s only important
for the moment. If women have the power to
drive men mad with desire, it’s so transitory as
to be meaningless, and few women ever figure
out how to benefit by this biological
phenomenon.
Depending upon one’s mood, of course, it’s
easy enough to go along with George Will’s
comment that these are wretched times. Possi
bly we are losing the empire, and under-
educated, goalless, soulless lowlifes are taking
over the shreds of what’s left. But the women in
this film have invested a great deal of time and
thought looking for the heart of fulfillment, and
have found not much there for them. The men
have spent a great deal of time looking for
temporary solutions to an age-old quest, and
have a few shaggy dog stories to tell, and not
much in the way of real memories of relation
ships. This might be due to the dichotomy of sex
to thought. Sex is something not verbalized
very well except by the few with profound liter
ary talent. It lurks in a pre-civilized, bestial
portion of mind and body, but doesn’t set well
at a civilized dinner party, and leaves the age-
old question, just how far would we go, given
an infinite number of partners, and an infinite
number o f positions? •
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Just Out 14 January. 1987
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