There are many invading barbarians in this film. The reference to 9/11 is made explicit. Another example are the cancer cells that are destroying Remy's body. But there are many other more subtle examples. The general metaphor is this; we develop tidy definitions of who we are and who we are not. Life then deals us changes. Change is experienced as a violation(invasion) and the source of change feels foreign and evil(barbarians).How we are ultimately changed by these invasions defines who we are.
Each character in the movie faces such an invasion. First and foremost is Remy. At the beginning of the movie he faces the worst of possible situations. He is terminally ill, has wasted a promising life, is alone and buried in the horrors of the Canadian health care system. He is then invaded by a legion of most of the important people from his life. By the end of the movie he is able to die peacefully, in a place of natural beauty, with the people he cares most about, at the time of his choosing, having achieved closure around everything which is capable of being closed. The final scene at the lake is one of the most extraordinary sequences that I've witnessed on film.
But who are the the invaders and who is being invaded? By the end of the film we realized that this movie is as much about Sebastian and Nathalie, Remy's two unlikely guardian angels, who have been changed as deeply by the experience as Remy was.
Each character in the movie faces such an invasion. First and foremost is Remy. At the beginning of the movie he faces the worst of possible situations. He is terminally ill, has wasted a promising life, is alone and buried in the horrors of the Canadian health care system. He is then invaded by a legion of most of the important people from his life. By the end of the movie he is able to die peacefully, in a place of natural beauty, with the people he cares most about, at the time of his choosing, having achieved closure around everything which is capable of being closed. The final scene at the lake is one of the most extraordinary sequences that I've witnessed on film.
But who are the the invaders and who is being invaded? By the end of the film we realized that this movie is as much about Sebastian and Nathalie, Remy's two unlikely guardian angels, who have been changed as deeply by the experience as Remy was.