Denys Arcand Filmography

Born:: June 25, 1941 in Deschambault, Quebec, Canada
Occupation:: Director, Screenwriter
Biography:: His intensely personal, challenging, and intellectual films have gained Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand a devoted international following. A former documentarian whose understanding of the human condition often results in movies with realistic and honest personalities, Arcand has seemingly...Read More

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Days of Darkness

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Marc Labreche, Diane Kruger, Sylvie Léonard, Caroline Neron, Rufus Wainwright

Synopsis: A civil servant gradually regresses into a fantasy world while falling for a beautiful movie star (Diane Kruger) in director Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasion)'s dark comedy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide Read More

2007
The Barbarian Invasions

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Rémy Girard, Stéphane Rousseau, Marie-Josée Croze, Marina Hands, Dorothee Berryman

Synopsis: Director Denys Arcand revisits the situations and relationships that informed his international breakthrough The Decline of the American Empire with this dialogue-driven character study. Set 17 years after Decline, The Barbarian Invasions, like its predecessor, examines the varying politics Read More

5/9/03
Stardom

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jessica Paré, Dan Aykroyd, Charles Berling, Thomas Gibson, Frank Langella

Synopsis: French Canadian director Denys Arcand pushes the boundaries of the mockumentary with Stardom, the tale of a fictional neophyte supermodel (Jessica Pare) told entirely through clips of her appearances on talk shows, television interviews, and documentaries. Originally titled 15 Moments Read More

10/27/00
Joyeux Calvaire

Crew: Director

Actors: Gaston Lepage, Benoit Briere, Chantal Baril, Roger Blay, Rene-Richard Cyr

Synopsis: Episodic and unflinchingly realistic, this docudrama offers a seldom-seen look into the lives of Montreal's homeless as it tells the story of a veteran beggar, Marcel, and his neophyte panhandler-buddy Joseph. Most of the time, the down-and-out duo spend their days walking about, talking to their Read More

1996
Léolo

Actors: Maxime Collin, Ginette Reno, Roland Blouin, Julien Guiomar, Pierre Bourgault

Synopsis: Jean-Claude Lauzon's highly praised film tells the strange story of Léolo, a young boy from Montréal. Told from Léolo's point-of-view, the film depicts his family of lunatics and Léolo's attempts to deal with them. Not one individual in the boy's life is well adjusted. His brother, after being Read More

1993
Love and Human Remains

Crew: Director

Actors: Thomas Gibson, Ruth Marshall, Cameron Bancroft, Mia Kirshner, Joanne Vannicola

Synopsis: Based upon a play by screenwriter Brad Fraser, Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, Denys Arcand's dark-humored drama Love and Human Remains follows the lives of a group of young Canadians, with a particular focus on their romantic and sexual experiences. The central characters Read More

1993
Montréal Vu Par...

Crew: Director

Actors: Sheila McCarthy, Charlotte Laurier, Robert Lepage, Denys Arcand

Synopsis: Six short movies by six successful Canadian directors are gathered in this anthology film, commissioned to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Montréal in 1992. The first film, directed by Patricia Rozema, humorously follows a bewildered Toronto housewife as she frantically attempts to enjoy her Read More

1991
Jesus of Montreal

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Rémy Girard, Robert Lepage

Synopsis: A modern-day Passion Play becomes a reenactment of the life and death of Jesus Christ in more ways than one with this critically acclaimed drama from Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand. Lothaire Bluteau stars as Daniel Coloumbe, an intense young actor in Montreal who is hired by church fathers to Read More

5/25/90
Un Zoo la Nuit

Actors: Roger Le Bel, Gilles Maheu, Lynne Adams, Lorne Brass, Germain Houde

Synopsis: Marcel (Gilles Maheu) emerges from prison in hopes of a reconciliation with his dying father Albert (Roger Le Bel) in this thrilling crime drama. Raped in prison, Marcel encounters a homosexual cop involved with drug smuggling who presses him for information and sex. Marcel fights his way out of Read More

3/30/88
The Decline of the American Empire

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Pierre Curzi, Rémy Girard, Yves Jacques, Dominique Michel, Daniel Briere, Louise Portal

Synopsis: A rousing "he said/she said" endeavor, The Decline of the American Empire begins by separating the boys from the girls. Preparing a gourmet dinner, four male intellectuals begin trading stories of their sexual experiences. At the same time, four well-read women, all working out in a gym, exchange Read More

11/14/86
Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

1984
Le Confort et L'Indifference

Crew: Director

1982
On Est Au Coton

Crew: Director

1976
Gina

Crew: Director

1974
Réjeanne Padovani

Crew: Director, Editor, Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this early work from director Denys Arcand (Jesus of Montreal), Vincent Padovani (Jean Lajeunesse) is a French-Canadian contractor whose new superhighway is about to open. At a party he throws with the local money-men and political honchos, Padovani willingly indulges in the sort of debauchery Read More

1973
Quebec: Duplessis et Après...

Crew: Cinematographer, Director

1972
La Maudite Galette

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This French-Canadian crime/action drama, which satirizes U.S. crime films, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972 and was well received. In the picture, perfectly ordinary people murder, steal, and torture one another with casual abandon in order to solve their everyday problems. ~ Clarke Read More

1972
Entre la Mer et L'eau Douce

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Geneviève Bujold, Claude Gauthier, Paul Gauthier, Robert Charlebois

Synopsis: A young man (Claude Gauthier) sets out from his hometown of Quebec and travels to Montreal to seek his fortune. He takes a succession of odd jobs before hitting it big as a singer. He has eyes for a waitress (Genevieve Bujold) in a greasy spoon diner before his crooning career takes him to hang Read More

1967
Seul ou Avec d'Autres

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Pierre Letourneau

1963
Canada's Story [TV Series]

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The Wednesday-afternoon anthology Canada's Story consisted of twenty short films, produced through the auspices of the National Film Board of Canada. Each 30-minute episode was about the early exploration of Canada, and/or recent developments in the country's history. Individual titles included Read More

1960