Of Montreal

Revisiting old haunts

From Xavier Dolan’s Les amours imaginaires (2010).

Earlier this year, I spent time in my hometown of Montreal. It was the longest I had been there since moving to Toronto in 2012. While I had more time to explore and revisit old haunts, most of them were gone. At a time when I needed to anchor myself, I was caught in a weird limbo where locations resonated and signalled memorable events, but I could no longer remember what, how or why. What was I supposed to do with an abandoned storefront or a Starbucks? Would I ever be a regular again?

I get my bearings now the way Hagop Kourounian does — by rewatching films shot in Montreal. I live vicariously through Xavier Dolan’s characters sitting in the same cafés or watering holes I once did. That’s all I have for now. (And the memories, I guess.)

Another scene from Les amours imaginaires.

In 2015, I wrote this for Maisonneuve’s Letters from Montreal column, chronicling the start of all this change. An entire anthology pulled from this column traces the gentrification of Montreal. This is what I’m currently watching to remember some things.

From Dolan’s Mommy (2014).

Harris Dickinson in Dolan’s Matthias et Maxime (2019).

Louis Garrel in Dolan’s Les amours imaginaires (2010).

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Notable mentions:

Kaveh Nabatian’s 645 Wellington

Monia Chokri’s Babysitter

Denys Arcand’s Jesus of Montreal