What it’s about
As they prepare a gourmet dinner, four male intellectuals Pierre (Curzi), Claude (Jacques), Remy (Girard), and Alain (Briere) trade raunchy anecdotes about their sexual experiences. Meanwhile, four equally brainy women Dominique (Michel), Diane (Portal), Louise (Berryman), and Danielle (Rioux) do the same while working out at a gym. Later, they meet for the repast, where the conversation continues in the same vein, with hilarious results.
Why we love it
Based on actual events in the lives of Denys Arcand’s own friends, the tales of conquest and erotic derring-do in “Decline” make for quite a naughty, entertaining evening of chatter. Arcand is gifted at examining the private peccadilloes and sexual mores among Canada’s intellectual elite, but it never feels pretentious or overwrought. Things eventually disintegrate along gender lines at the dinner table, but it’s all part of the fun of watching and listening to this raucous group of full-bodied characters unburden themselves of colorful tales and hypocrisies. Frank, funny, and very seductive!