The Dishwasher

Francis Leclerc's 2023 Canadian film is set in Montreal in the winter of 2002. Stephane, nineteen, studies graphic design and wants to be an illustrator, but gambling debts have cost him his flat, his friends and his order. The film shows addiction not as a moment of crisis but as a continuous calculation. Stephane takes a job as a dishwasher and the tempo of the kitchen gives him a structure, but the money he earns keeps going the same way. The strongest passages are in the kitchen. The pressure of service hours, the hierarchy of the crew and physical exhaustion are shown in detail. It is adapted from a novel and the music of the period is decisive inside the narrative. Who it's for: those who like Quebec cinema and dramas about addiction. Who it's not for: viewers sensitive to gambling addiction; the film shows relapse again and again.