In many ways, Remy in "Les Invasions barbares" is director Denys Arcand's alter ego. Says the 63-year-old director, "I suppose he was a way of facing my life and my crimes, you know."
Like Remy, Arcand is a gourmand who loves wine. Like Remy, he had embraced many 20th-century "isms" and had once told a Chinese actress that he admired the Cultural Revolution very much. "Her father had been killed by it and her mother had committed suicide. And I had the gall to tell her such a thing. Many years later, the guilt still stings."
Arcand, one of Canada's most valued filmmakers, says he could feel "Invasions barbares" was going to be a success even during the shooting. "We filmed the scene of Remy's daughter on the boat, sending her satellite message to him. And the cast and crew gathered to watch the footage on the computer screen . . . and there was an absolute silence. Everyone was so moved. It was then that I knew."