'BARBARIAN' CANADIANS JUST KEEP ON TALKING.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

IT HAS BEEN 17 years since Denys Arcand's jabbering intellectual talked our ears off in ``The Decline of the American Empire,'' but the Canadian filmmaker apparently believes that they still have something to tell us. Thus: ``The Barbarian Invasions,'' in which the same babbling eggheads, now older if not appreciably wiser, reunite, reminisce about the good old days of debauchery and say goodbye to a dying friend.

Arcand's latest offers the same intellectual nihilism and social skepticism, the same torrent of dirty talk and the same kind of vague, ill-considered jealousy of the States that distinguished - for good and bad - its predecessor. Arcand's attempts to use the events of 9-11 to give ``Invasions'' some kind of political context and profundity are vague at best, embarrassing at worst. He really should limit his intercourse to the sexual variety.

Remy (Remy Girard) is one of Arcand's libertines, a Montreal history professor who has bed-hopped his way through life. Now dying, Remy has earned the forgiveness and understanding of ex-wife Louise (Dorothee Berryman) but not his son, Sebastien (Stephane Rousseau). As Remy explains: ``My son is an ambitious and puritanical capitalist, while I have always been a sensual socialist.'' One guess as to which character Arcand likes best.

Pat generational generalizations (don't try saying that three times fast) aside, Sebastien's capital comes in handy. Remy is stuck in an overcrowded, ill-equipped hospital. ``I voted for Medicare, and I'll accept the consequences,'' he says. But Sebastien, not without feelings for his father, arranges for him to have private care and then hooks up with Nathalie (Marie-Josee Croze), an old family friend who is now a heroin addict. Nathalie helps Sebastien buy drugs to ease dad's pain.

Remy's declining health brings back the gang from ``Decline of the American Empire,'' and there is a lot of very Canadian talk, culminating in a last supper that makes ``My Dinner With Andre'' feel like ``Con Air.'' The maudlin tone during this ``September Song'' section doesn't jibe with Arcand's glib intellectualism, resulting in a torrent of emotion that feels like crocodile tears. Death has no sting here.

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS - Two stars

(R: language, sexual dialogue, drug content)

Starring: Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau, Dorothee Berryman, Marie-Josee Croze.

Director: Denys Arcand.

Running time: 1hr. 35 min.

Playing: Arclight in Hollywood.

In a nutshell: Jabbering intellectuals babble about death, sex and socialism in a movie that makes ``My Dinner With Andre'' feel like ``Con Air.''