Montreal, My Beautiful

Xiaodan He's film follows Feng Xia, a Chinese immigrant of fifty-three living in Montreal. She faces a desire she has suppressed for years and begins a secret affair with a young Québécoise woman. The subject is being caught between two languages and two generations. The home life in which Feng Xia speaks Chinese and the outside in which she speaks French do not mix; the narrative lays that division over the secrecy of the relationship. Joan Chen leads with Charlotte Aubin opposite her. The tone is calm and the narrative does not enlarge its conflict; the weight is given to glances and to what goes unsaid. Who it's for: those who like narratives of migration and late self-recognition. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a clear resolution; the film leaves its ending open.