The Fall of the American Empire (French: La chute de l'empire américain) is a 2018 Canadian crime thriller[3] film written and directed by Denys Arcand and starring Alexandre Landry, Maxim Roy, Yan England and Rémy Girard.

Based on a 2010 Old Montreal shooting, it is thematically related, but not a direct sequel, to Arcand's 1986 The Decline of the American Empire and 2003 The Barbarian Invasions.

While working on a delivery in Montreal, he witnesses a robbery that ends in a fatal shootout, leaving two gym bags filled with millions of dollars of cash unguarded on the ground.

Bigras deduces the money was stolen from the West End Gang, which was keeping its funds in a store owned by banker Vladimir François.

Lafontaine does not trust Bigras and believes he will take the money; she and Pierre-Paul find the storage locker empty, and La Bauve and McDuff arrive.

[5] The incident took place in a clothing store called Flawnego and was suspected as gang-related; Kyle Gabriel, Terrell Lloyd Smith and Carey Isaac Regis were convicted of murder in 2014.

[7] While the working title was The Triumph of Money (French: Le Triomphe de l'argent), Arcand announced in March that the film would be retitled The Fall of the American Empire to better reflect how the story developed.

[14] He analogized the current situation with the presidency of Donald Trump to the rule of Roman Emperor Caligula, which could be followed by a Nero figure "and three centuries of inexorable decay".

The site's critical consensus reads, "An ambitious blend of comedy, thriller, and social commentary, The Fall of the American Empire lightens its heavy message with refreshing intelligence and wit.

[20] In La Presse, Marc-André Lussier [fr] awarded the film three and a half stars, calling it Arcand's best work since The Barbarian Invasions.

[21] For Le Journal de Montréal, Isabelle Hontebeyrie assessed the film as jubilant and "pure Arcand", giving it four stars.

[22] The Huffington Post's Jean-François Vandeuren criticized the film, comparing it unfavourably to Arcand's previous two works Days of Darkness and An Eye for Beauty, in not fully developing its characters and missing opportunities in the story.