MONTREAL — Producer Denise Robert has been doing her best to clear up the confusion surrounding the release and Cannes premiere of her collaborator-husband’s latest feature, L’Âge des ténèbres. And given the recent changes, a bit of confusion is probably understandable.

A week ago, the news was that Oscar-winner Denys Arcand was not ready to submit his film for Cannes, but that it would open in mid-May in Quebec. Arcand was slated for a round of press interviews to plug the film, his first since 2003’s Les Invasions barbares, the feature many consider his crowning achievement.

Then came word on Wednesday that L’Âge des ténèbres (The Dark Age), about a morbidly unhappy man (Marc Labrèche of Monica la mitraille) staring down his mid-life crisis, will close the Cannes festival, and that its Quebec release through Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm has been postponed until December.

Robert acknowledges the confusion, but also stresses that it’s entirely and easily explained. ‘The only reason this film has taken us a bit longer is because there are CGI special effects in it,’ explains Robert, who says that placing such effects into the film made Arcand’s directing duties much more demanding. She says that this film marked the first time Arcand had ever dealt with such effects, and that, also for the first time, he was working in an editing suite in Paris. ‘They do things a bit differently there,’ says Robert. ‘There were adjustments we had to make.’

But she says the final cut will be ready for its May 27 debut at Cannes, rounding out the 60th edition of what most consider the most important film festival in the world.

And the postponing of the film’s Quebec release date, all the way to December? ‘The film-release calendar schedule is packed. There are too many films coming out in the next few months, so Alliance Atlantis felt that December was our best bet. We’re happy with it, as it will give us time to release the film properly.’

This also opens the door to a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, though there is no word from Robert or TIFF programmers if it will screen there.