Intelligent and relevant without being inspiring, being somewhat diluted by itself.

This a the best film of the year. Go see it right now. A real jewel that reflect preoccupations of modern occidental life. Wow!

Like Atom Egoyan, the other great Canadian director,Denys Arcand reveals the human ability to find strength and hope amidst our all too human weaknesses and frailties.

This is a good example of how any film, whether it's good or bad, will get critical acclaim mainly because it's in French. If this same script was made in Hollywood with a big name cast, it would most likely get panned. Yes, this film is very pretentious, and at times slightly irritating, but nonetheless very entertaining & moving film that in the end won me over sheerly on the glide of the performances, which should be a textbook on good casting (there is not one bad casting choice throughout).… Expand

I like this movie. Good movie.

I just came from a screening of this movie in Toronto. It opens tomorrow night, and I hope it gets a huge turnout. It delivers emotionally, intellectually, comically, dramatically, and there is even a hot kiss. I hope Arcand gets the foreign feature Oscar for this.

JUST A MASTERPIECE!!!

An intellectual film - beautifully done. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I am a professor and film scholar who sees more than 100 movies a year. Rarely have I found a movie this witty and emotionally moving. Of course, I am biased in my affection for intellectuals and personal concern for the relations between fathers and sons. But this is a great film in the humanist tradition.

There are few great moments in "Les Invasions Barbares". It's overambitious and wants to take shots at health care, the church, drugpolicies and who knows what else. All wrapped neatly in loads of intellectual anecdotes and philosophical theories, that have been better presented and executed almost everywhere else. It all seems a little too cheap and a little to incoherent and ruins the story of father and son, that does start promising, but ends up crashing. The forced, cheery dialogue grows tiring fast, and the humor doesn't go further than pseudo-intellectual versions of Adam Sandler-jokes.… Expand

Definitely overrated. That foreign-language Oscar is a dead giveaway. Every time that it matters, Arcand's script goes for the enjoyably easy Gallic gesture to the audience rather than something of weight and subtlety. For example, we need to know that Remy the dying professor is a roué. Let?s immediately do a campily exaggerated description of his conquests, mouthed off at the bedside by his wife. We need to know he is at odds with his millionaire son. Why not get the prof to say the son has never read a book? Then have another bedside shouting match, and a perfunctory 30-second period of indecision, before the son metamorphoses into a tigerish activist ready to brandish bribes and move mountains to ensure dear old dad a peaceful exit. The very title of the movie is spelt out using a lecture excerpt and 9/11 footage of the second plane hitting the tower. I agree, the junkie (Marie-Josee Croze) who supplies Remy?s painkillers is laden with character detail. Her sexual tension with Sebastien saves the movie from complete predictability. Also, the Canadian lakeside cottage send-off for Remy may bring a tear to your eye. … Expand

Wonderful end to Arcand's "empire" trilogy: The Decline of the American Empire, Jesus of Montreal, and now Barbarian.

Punch in the stomach film, celebratory interpretation of Freudian thanatos (cf Decline and eros).

"Les Invasions Barbares" is the film of the year. It was probably the only unanimity in the Brazilian papers in months. I can only be sorry if the American critic couldn't get it - or couldn't take it.

I agree with the Village Voice reviewer that it is a "soap opera of assholes," but then again, so was Gosford Park, if you want to get right down to it. Well-written, interesting characters. And the actress who does an excellent job as the young drug addict bears a strong resemblance to Ally Sheedy.

A heinous debacle. Manipulative and irritating, The Barbarian Invasions is less a powerful tale of accepting death than a soddy piece of anti-American propaganda. A catastrophe.

A wonderfully exquisite movie about death, life, friends and intelligent thinking. And politically so not correct, it's a sweet taste for the ears. A great different approch to the bonds of friendship.

The best movie I saw this year!