This Québécois, i.e. Canadian made French language film, is definitely not one I would have heard or perhaps of cared before I saw its inclusion in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I hoped I would agree with this and other critical opinions. Basically four academic intellectual friends, four men and four women, all from the Department of History at the Université de Montréal, are gathering for a dinner at a rambling and secluded country house. The men are married Rémy (Rémy Girard), homosexual Claude (Yves Jacques), involved with a girlfriend Pierre (Pierre Curzi) and bachelor Alain (Daniel Brière) who spend time discussing political and professional topics, but mostly women, the female body and sex. The women are Rémy wife of 15 years Louise (Dorothée Berryman), spinster Dominique St. Arnaud (Dominique Michel), divorcée Diane Leonard (Louise Portal) and Pierre's girlfriend Danielle (Geneviève Rioux) are spending time in the gym downtown also discussing politics and professional stuff, and also their sexual affairs and opinions of men. It is after the dinner is prepared and they all gather at the table that tensions arise, when it turns out one of the women may have had an affair with two of the men, one being married, and they are also joined by ninth guest Mario (Gabriel Arcand) who only adds more stress to the situation. The acting is all fine, and the story is relatively simple, it is the mix of flashbacks and the dialogue full of sexual exploits and experiences that is most interesting to watch, it also adds to the concept of character imperfections creating complications, it is a watchable comedy drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!
