In a day and age where just about anything can be seen as offensive, our society is at each other’s throats more often than not.

I know I’m not alone in my feeling that we’ve become unable to handle differences of opinion and ideology – but also, put simply, our tolerance for hatred, bigotry and homophobia is near-zero.

We have made so many strides, but sometimes it seems the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. Enter Testament, a French-Canadian film that centres on the older generation, and the lack of connection they feel to our 2023 culture.

Enter Jean-Michel, a retired writer who lives out his days alone in a living facility, lonely and confused. He no longer recognizes the world he lives in, and he’s increasingly isolated. He feels in an effort to include everyone, we’ve stopped celebrating true and real accomplishments.

We’ve all seen Bugs Bunny cartoons that now feature a warning that lets viewers know the classic cartoons are “of a different time”, and that their jokes and characters may be offensive to modern viewers. Jean-Michel is constantly worried that the ideals he holds from decades prior may hurt others, and tries his best to fit in within a framework that doesn’t have room for him.

When the retirement home is targeted by First Nations protestors over a centuries-old mural on its walls, the director Suzanne is hard-pressed to find a solution. Knowing she needs to acknowledge the poor stereotyping and tone-deaf art, she realizes she’s caught between appeasing protesting and erasing history, however unpalatable by today’s standards.

An examination of colonialism, how things have changed, and hypocrisy on both sides of the debate around warring ideologies and cultural shifts, Testament is not an easy watch. It asks tough questions, and you could very well be offended by much of the content here.

Oscar-nominated Denys Arcand makes an interesting and evocative film, and Remy Girard and Sophie Lorain are fabulous in the leads. But he makes one critical error.

A shift in the priorities of the script leaves us with a bland, cliche third act that has none of the same wit as the beginning of this one. It’s still an interesting little film, but one wishes if he was going to make something so cutting, he wouldn’t just go skin-deep.

3.5/5 Stars