Georges-Henri Denys Arcand (; born June 25, 1941) is a Canadian filmmaker. During his four decades career, he became one of the most internationally-recognized directors from Quebec, earning widespread acclaim and numerous accolades for his "intensely personal, challenging, and intellectual films."
His film The Barbarian Invasions won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004."The Barbarian Invasions" Wins Foreign Language Film: 2004 Oscars His films have also been nominated three further times, including two nominations in the same category for The Decline of the American Empire in 1986"The Assault" Wins Best Foreign Language Film: 1987 Oscars and Jesus of Montreal in 1989,Cinema Paradiso" Wins Foreign Language Film: 1990 Oscars becoming the only French-Canadian director in history whose films have received this number of nominations and, subsequently, to have a film win the award. For The Barbarian Invasions, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, losing to Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation.Sofia Coppola winning Best Original Screenplay-Oscars on YouTube
Arcand has also won several awards from the Cannes Film Festival, including the Best Screenplay Award, the Jury Prize, and many other prestigious awards worldwide. He won three César Awards in 2004 for The Barbarian Invasions: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation and Best Film, the only Canadian director to have done so. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and a Commander of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Early life and education Arcand was born in Deschambault, Quebec, Canada. He grew up in a devoutly Roman Catholic home in a village about 40 km southwest of Quebec City. He attended Jesuit school for nine years. Entering his teen years, the family moved to Montreal and although he dreamed about being a professional tennis player, while studying for a master's degree in history at the Université de Montréal he became involved in film making, which gave him a new sense of direction. In this era he was involved in several student film projects in collaboration with classmates Denis Héroux and Stéphane Venne, including À l'est d'Eaton, Alone or with Others (Seul ou avec d'autres) and Over My Head (Jusqu'au cou).
Career
In 1963, he joined the National Film Board of Canada where he produced several award-winning documentaries in his native French language. A social activist, he made a feature-length documentary in 1970 titled Cotton Mill, Treadmill (On est au coton) that showed the exploitation of textile workers. The film caused an uproar that resulted in it not being distributed publicly for several years. Arcand received such publicity that it gave his fledgling career a great boost. He also worked on some television series, notably Duplessis, a historical work he wrote (but did not direct) about Premier Maurice Duplessis.
During the early part of the 1970s, Arcand produced a number of feature films that received critical acclaim. Arcand returned to directing documentaries and did no work for television. In 1982, his documentary, Comfort and Indifference (Le confort et l'indifférence) won the Prix Luc-Perreault from the Quebec Film Critics' Association."NFB documentary awarded prize". The Globe and Mail, March 31, 1983. In 1986 he wrote and directed what was until then the highest-grossing film in Quebec (and Canadian) history, The Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'empire américain).
At the Canadian Genie Awards, it captured best film, best director, and best writer of an original screenplay. It also won the "International Critics Prize" at the Cannes Film Festival and became the first Canadian feature film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Three years later Arcand repeated this award-garnering performance with his widely acclaimed 1989 film Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal) winning the same three Genie awards, plus the Jury Prize at Cannes. The movie earned him a second Academy Award nomination, becoming the first Canadian director to accomplish this achievement.
Arcand produced and directed his first English language film in 1993, titled Love and Human Remains, and did so again in 2000, with the film Stardom, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival. He then spent two years writing the script for what many claim is his finest piece of cinematic writing to date, The Barbarian Invasions (Les invasions barbares). Released in 2003, the film won Arcand the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Foreign Language Film and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition, Denys Arcand was nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay. The Barbarian Invasions won France's 2004 César Award for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation.
Arcand's film Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres) was chosen to close the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. The press opening was subdued and the subsequent reviews were mixed. Following this, he took a seven-year hiatus from feature film directing; he returned in 2014 with the film Le règne de la beauté.
Awards and honours
In 1988, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 2005. In 1990 the Government of France awarded him the Legion of Honour. He finally earned from his home province one of its highest distinctions, the title of Knight of the National Order of Quebec, in 1990.Ordre national du Quebec
In 1995, Arcand received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. In February 2004, the government of France named Denys Arcand a Commander of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, that nation's highest cultural honour. In 2004, Arcand was also inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
In 2023, he was named the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of Canada.Taimur Sikander Mirza, "In Brief: Denys Arcand to receive DGC Lifetime Achievement Award". Playback, October 12, 2023. AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryNominated workResultAcademy AwardsFebruary 29, 2004Academy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmThe Barbarian InvasionsBest Original ScreenplayBAFTA AwardsMarch 17, 1991Best Film Not in the English LanguageJesus of MontrealFebruary 15, 2004The Barbarian InvasionsBest Original ScreenplayCannes Film FestivalMay 8–19, 1986FIPRESCI PrizeThe Decline of the American EmpireMay 11–23, 1989Jury PrizeJesus of MontrealPrize of the Ecumenical JuryPalme d'OrMay 14–25, 2003The Barbarian InvasionsBest ScreenplayCésar AwardsFebruary 21, 2004Best FilmBest DirectorBest Original Screenplay or AdaptationDirectors Guild of Canada Awards2004Best Direction in a Feature Film2023Lifetime Achievement AwardHimselfGenie AwardsMay 15, 1965Best Films for ChildrenSamuel de Champlain: Québec 1603October 12, 1973Best ScreenplayRéjeanne PadovaniMarch 18, 1987Best DirectionThe Decline of the American EmpireBest Original ScreenplayMarch 20, 1990Jesus of MontrealBest Direction2001Best ScreenplayStardomMay 1, 2004Best DirectionThe Barbarian InvasionsBest Original ScreenplayMarch 3, 2008Days of DarknessBest DirectionLumière AwardsFebruary 17, 2004Best French-Language FilmThe Barbarian InvasionsQuebec Cinema AwardsFebruary 22, 2004Best DirectorThe Barbarian InvasionsBest ScreenplayMost Successful Film Outside QuebecMarch 9, 2008Best DirectorDays of DarknessBest ScreenplayJune 2, 2019Most Successful Film Outside QuebecThe Fall of the American EmpireMichel-Côté Public PrizeDecember 8, 2024TestamentToronto International Film FestivalSeptember 4–13, 1986People's Choice AwardThe Decline of the American EmpireBest Canadian FilmSeptember 7–16, 1989International Critics' AwardJesus of MontrealSeptember 4– 13, 2003Best Canadian FilmThe Barbarian InvasionsSeptember 6–16, 2018The Fall of the American EmpireWriters Guild of Canada Awards2001WGC Screenwriting AwardStardom
Personal life Arcand is a lapsed Catholic.Donna Rosenthal, "THE PASSION OF DENYS ARCAND," The Washington Post, 22 July 1990, URL accessed 4 August 2016. Married a second time, neither Arcand nor Denise Robert, his producer/wife, has had children. He was 55 years old when they adopted an orphaned baby boy from China named Carter. His brother Bernard Arcand (1945–2009) was a professor of anthropology, and his youngest brother Gabriel Arcand (b. 1949) is a noted Canadian actor. His great-uncle, Adrien Arcand (1899-1967), was a notorious far-right politician.
Filmography
Director À l'est d'Eaton - 1959, short film co-directed with Stéphane Venne Alone or With Others (Seul ou avec d'autres) - 1962, co-directed with Denis Héroux and Stéphane Venne Dirty Money (La maudite galette) - 1972 Réjeanne Padovani - 1973 Gina - 1975 Empire, Inc. - 1983, TV miniseries codirected with Douglas Jackson The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe) - 1984 The Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'empire américain) - 1986 Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal) - 1989 Les lettres de la religieuse portugaise - 1991, TV movie Montreal Stories - 1992, segment "Vue d'ailleurs" Love and Human Remains - 1993 Poverty and Other Delights (Joyeux Calvaire) - 1996 Stardom - 2000 The Barbarian Invasions (Les invasions barbares) - 2003 Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres) - 2007 An Eye for Beauty (Le règne de la beauté) - 2014 The Fall of the American Empire (La chute de l'empire américain) - 2018TIFF 2018: Denys Arcand a fan of festival's good old days|Montreal Gazette Testament - 2023Charles-Henri Ramond, "Testament en salle le 5 octobre". Films du Québec, May 24, 2023.
Documentaries Champlain - 1964, short film Québec 1603 - Samuel de Champlain - 1964, short film Les Montréalistes - 1965, short film Montréal, un jour d'été - 1965, short film La route de l'Ouest - 1965, short film Volleyball - 1966, short film Parcs atlantiques - 1967, short film Quebec: Duplessis and After (Québec : Duplessis et après...) - 1972 La lutte des travailleurs d'hôpitaux - 1976, short film Cotton Mill, Treadmill (On est au coton) - 1976 (made 1970 but withheld from release) Comfort and Indifference (Le confort et l'indifférence) - 1982
Acting It Isn't Jacques Cartier's Fault (C'est pas la faute à Jacques Cartier) - 1968 Nominingue... depuis qu'il existe - 1968 My Eye (Mon oeil) - 1971 Dirty Money (La maudite galette) - 1972 Réjeanne Padovani - 1973 Pigs Are Seldom Clean (On n'engraisse pas les cochons à l'eau claire) - 1973 Normande (La Tête de Normande St-Onge) - 1975 Night Zoo (Un zoo la nuit) - 1987 Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal) - 1989 Montreal Stories (Montréal vu par...) - 1991 Léolo - 1992 Un gars, une fille - 2000 The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions barbares) - 2003 Tideline - 2004 Idole instantanée - 2005 Les Bougon - 2004-06 Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres) - 2007 Barney's Version - 2010 Adam & Ève - 2012 Kiss Me Like a Lover (Embrasse-moi comme tu m'aimes) - 2016 Les pêcheurs - 2016, TV series
References
Further reading Michel Coulombe, Denys Arcand. La vraie nature du cinéaste, (entretiens), Montréal: Boréal 1993 André Loiselle, Brian McIllroy (éd.), Auteur/Provocateur. The Films of Denys Arcand, Westport: Praeger 1995
External links
Denys Arcand at the Canadian Film Encyclopedia Denys Arcand on NFB