What would you do if you’re a delivery driver that is presented with a stolen bag of cash, literally dropped right in front of you? It sounds like one of those ethics questions that are presented in your low-level university philosophy classes. And in the new film, “The Fall of the American Empire,” we see what happens when a man decides the best idea is to take the cash and run.
In the trailer for the French-Canadian film “The Fall of the American Empire,” we meet Pierre-Paul, a mid-30s delivery driver with a Ph.D. in philosophy that is working outside of a bank when a robber with a bag full of cash drops dead right in front of him. Obviously, since Pierre-Paul feels pressure from those around him wondering why a highly intelligent philosophy graduate is working as a delivery driver, he takes the money. This, as you might imagine, leads to all sorts of unexpected, and incredibly dangerous, consequences.
“The Fall of the American Empire” comes from writer-director Denys Arcand, who is probably best known as the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind the films “The Barbarian Invasions” and “The Decline of the American Empire.” Though not a true sequel, ‘Fall’ is considered to be thematically linked to those films.
“The Fall of the American Empire” debuted at last year’s b, and is now being released by Sony Pictures Classics. The film will be released in theaters on May 31.
Here’s the synopsis:
Pierre-Paul Daoust, 36, an intellectual with a PhD in philosophy is forced to work as a deliveryman to afford a decent living. One day, while delivering a parcel, he gets caught in a hold up gone terribly wrong: two dead and millions in money bags laying on the ground. Pierre-Paul is confronted with a dilemma leave empty-handed, or take the money and run? This new Denys Arcand film takes a witty yet touching look at, as only Arcand knows how, the predominance of money in a society where all other values seem to have crumbled.