The movie title is a double entendre begging the question, "The decline of what?". Externally, the subject is the decline of the world-at-large, but underneath it's a slow motion reveal of what lies within each character that drives the plot. There is some pleasing nuance in the setup and delivery, and I think it's worth watching if you like a character-driven allegory with some tension and action mixed in.
"That's why I'm doing this tutorial on Mylar. We'll learn how to preserve our own food, because that will make a difference." (Alain)
What I like about this food preservation scene is not just the human father/daughter angle, but the fact that Antoine and Alain are portrayed as birds of a feather - on the surface far more unites than separates them. I also like the irony - yes, their efforts will make a difference, but what difference? The Decline is sprinkled with subtle lines like this where the characters are striving to prepare for a disaster they expect while all the time they are being pulled towards some completely unexpected event for which they are unprepared. It's like your coach telling you, "Keep your eye on the ball!" and then him hitting you in the head with a bat from behind. The scene ends with Alain saying, ominously, "And don't forget, in order to live, you have to survive." This statement becomes increasingly meaningful as the move plays out.
Later in the movie, at dinner, Alain mentions that he lost his relationship to his way of life, "I wasn't always alone here... but she thought it was too far away... too intense." That little glimpse carries deep, dark undertones that weave together moments in the movie when Alain talks about the traps he's set around his property, how he would defend it, and again when he yells at another camp trainee about wasting water. Alain is unstable, but not so much because he's an inherently unstable guy - quite the opposite, he's a very thoughtful and introspective person. In fact at the same dinner where he mentions his breakup he says, "That's why we have to protect each other, and take care of each other. That's why it's important to surround yourself with good people." At one point Alain even invites Antoine to come live with him. Alain is divided - his inherent desire to connect with others and build community is at war with the darkness he's been brooding on so long.
I don't need to recap the whole movie, but I do feel the movie supports the way in which the group divides along two lines when an accident takes place - those who have committed themselves to the future they have prepared for, and those who have not yet left the world to which they are accustomed. "Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere", and these worldviews cannot long co-exist. The tension between worldviews plays out brutally, and in some ways, believably. Even reading the IMDB reviews of The Decline, I got an eerie sense that for some people this movie didn't sit well because it hit too close to home.
As regards the question, "The decline of what?", the answer I came away with was this: when you begin to suspect the entire world around you of collapse, when you sacrifice everything you have to prepare for it, you risk imploding under the weight of your own expectations, or worse, becoming blind to more immediate dangers. Then, when life wrecks your little plans and you are stripped of all your preparations, the only thing you have left is who you are, your core self. That's where you discover what you are and are not capable of.
"That's why I'm doing this tutorial on Mylar. We'll learn how to preserve our own food, because that will make a difference." (Alain)
What I like about this food preservation scene is not just the human father/daughter angle, but the fact that Antoine and Alain are portrayed as birds of a feather - on the surface far more unites than separates them. I also like the irony - yes, their efforts will make a difference, but what difference? The Decline is sprinkled with subtle lines like this where the characters are striving to prepare for a disaster they expect while all the time they are being pulled towards some completely unexpected event for which they are unprepared. It's like your coach telling you, "Keep your eye on the ball!" and then him hitting you in the head with a bat from behind. The scene ends with Alain saying, ominously, "And don't forget, in order to live, you have to survive." This statement becomes increasingly meaningful as the move plays out.
Later in the movie, at dinner, Alain mentions that he lost his relationship to his way of life, "I wasn't always alone here... but she thought it was too far away... too intense." That little glimpse carries deep, dark undertones that weave together moments in the movie when Alain talks about the traps he's set around his property, how he would defend it, and again when he yells at another camp trainee about wasting water. Alain is unstable, but not so much because he's an inherently unstable guy - quite the opposite, he's a very thoughtful and introspective person. In fact at the same dinner where he mentions his breakup he says, "That's why we have to protect each other, and take care of each other. That's why it's important to surround yourself with good people." At one point Alain even invites Antoine to come live with him. Alain is divided - his inherent desire to connect with others and build community is at war with the darkness he's been brooding on so long.
I don't need to recap the whole movie, but I do feel the movie supports the way in which the group divides along two lines when an accident takes place - those who have committed themselves to the future they have prepared for, and those who have not yet left the world to which they are accustomed. "Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere", and these worldviews cannot long co-exist. The tension between worldviews plays out brutally, and in some ways, believably. Even reading the IMDB reviews of The Decline, I got an eerie sense that for some people this movie didn't sit well because it hit too close to home.
As regards the question, "The decline of what?", the answer I came away with was this: when you begin to suspect the entire world around you of collapse, when you sacrifice everything you have to prepare for it, you risk imploding under the weight of your own expectations, or worse, becoming blind to more immediate dangers. Then, when life wrecks your little plans and you are stripped of all your preparations, the only thing you have left is who you are, your core self. That's where you discover what you are and are not capable of.