French-Canadian movies
I always find it surprising that there aren't any good lists of essential movies from Quebec either on IMDB or Letterboxd. The Quebec movie industry is small, but quite vibrant, and its output is distinct from either the French or the Anglo-Canadian industry. While there are a few famous directors (e.g., Denys Arcand, Xavier Dolan, Denis Villeneuve) who enjoy international success, there is a lot more to the industry. So here is one attempt, under construction obviously. Feel free to message with suggestions!
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- DirectorJean-Claude LauzonStarsMaxime CollinGinette RenoGilbert SicotteThe story of a young Canadian boy who tries to escape mentally from his disturbed family thanks to his fantasy and imagination.
- DirectorClaude JutraStarsJacques GagnonLyne ChampagneJean DuceppeSet in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town's general store and undertaking business.
- DirectorJean-Claude LauzonStarsGilles MaheuRoger LebelCorrado MastropasquaMarcel, recently released from prison, attempt to rebuild his relationship with his girlfriend Julie (now a prostitute) and especially his father Albert (who thinks he's been away on a long trip abroad), while being pursued by two corrupt cops (one of whom bears a longstanding grudge against him) for drug money he's alleged to possess...
- DirectorGilles CarleStarsMicheline LanctôtDonald PilonReynald BouchardA woman imbued with naturalistic and libertarian theories leaves her city home to live in the countryside with her young son. There she meets a litigious farmer who fights against the banks and the government, in which she will be somehow involved. Meanwhile, practising her theories, she makes some old men very happy and, by chance even passes as a saint!
- DirectorAndré ForcierStarsJean LapointeJean Pierre BergeronSophie ClémentIn a poor neighborhood, teenagers plot an assassination while a party is being organized for the local usurer.
- DirectorJean-Guy NoëlStarsMicheline LanctôtSuzanne GarceauClaude MaherA Montreal musician, Rémi, who robbed his marching band on tour in Charlottetown, gets away to the Magdalen Islands with his girlfriend and gets shelter to a friend who his mourning her husband in a coma. He dreams of going away to California, but a colleague, Martin, reaches him - And trouble lays ahead unless Rémi changes plans on the way, otherwise Martin can call the police and the marching band.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsLothaire BluteauCatherine WilkeningJohanne-Marie TremblayA group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsJean LajeunesseLuce GuilbeaultJ. Léo GagnonThe unexpected return of his ex-wife and the assembly of a group of protesters both threaten to wreck a corrupt contractor's inauguration party for his new superhighway.
- DirectorPhilippe FalardeauStarsPaul AhmaraniStéphane DemersGeneviève NéronChristophe agrees to be filmed by his roommate Stéphane, while he is searching for a meaningful engineering job. Since he voluntarily resigned his job when he was to be moved to quality control, he does not get unemployment benefits, and goes to classes on how to contest the decision. Christophe sells his car, while Stéphane receives more funding for the film, and can hire a sound man. However, the crew following Christophe with a camera is a hinderance in his job-hunting. After spending the night with Christophe, his girlfriend Odile, an artist working as a supermarket cashier, takes over the camera and films the roommates as they get up. Finally Christophe finds a few days work dismantling machines for a company that is moving to Mexico, but his cameraman causes problems after interviewing the president of the company in the washroom.
- DirectorYan EnglandStarsAntoine Olivier PilonSophie NélisseLou-Pascal TremblayTim, a shy 16 years old athlete, is both brilliant and talented. But the pressure he undergoes pushes him to the edge, where human limits reach the point of no return.
- DirectorGuillaume SylvestreStarsMacha GrenonPierre-Luc BrillantMarianne FortierAntoine, 13, spends the summer vacation with his parents in a rented cottage on an island in the middle of the Saint-Lawrence River. His neighbour, 17-year-old Anna, is an enigmatic and lively young woman. Antoine begins to experience the first stirrings of love-which soon yield a troubling brew of anxiety, desire and obsession. He eventually comes across a terrible secret that will forever change his life.
- DirectorJean-Philippe DuvalStarsAnne DorvalFrançois PapineauLeanna CheaIsabelle and her partner adopted Clara in Vietnam, who died several years after. In order to heal her wounds, Isabelle flies to Hanoi to discover the culture of Clara and meet her biological mother, who will later become her friend.
- DirectorRicardo TrogiStarsJean-Carl BoucherClaudio ColangeloSandrine BissonFilmmaker Ricardo Trogi recalls the events surrounding his family moving to a new neighborhood when he was 11 years old.
- DirectorRicardo TrogiStarsJean-Carl BoucherJuliette GosselinAlexandre NachiRicardo recounts the adventures of his 21 year old self, when he went to Italy following love.
- DirectorRobin AubertStarsTrystan BouthillierRichard RobitaillePatrick HivonA disturbed young man pairs up with his grumpy grandfather for a road trip in search of his father who left town after digging up the corpse of his wife.
- DirectorJacques DorfmannPierre MagnyStarsLou Diamond PhillipsToshirô MifuneJennifer TillyIn Canada's North during the 1930s, a young Inuit kills a White trader and is pursued by the police but his father is determined to protect his fugitive son at any cost.
- DirectorIan LagardeStarsSylvio ArriolaLudovic BerthillotDaydi Diaz CabreraAt the Palacio, an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, Mike's arrival complicates the normal flow of operations. His voracious appetite, mysterious magnetism and unexpected miracles bring him the curious, among which he makes three friends and meets a few admirers, a jealous salsa teacher and an enamored octopus. All of whom will accompany him in a gargantuan downward spiral mixing civil unrest and intestinal meltdown; a change of administration held up by the most attentive staff in the world.
- DirectorDavid O. RussellStarsChristian BaleMargot RobbieJohn David WashingtonIn the 1930s, three friends witness a murder, are framed for it, and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history.
- DirectorSophie DeraspeStarsNahéma RicciRachida OussaadaNour BelkhiriaA modern adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy which falls within a social realism. To the law of men, the young Antigone apposes her own sets of values.
- DirectorRoger CardinalStarsDaniel PilonMariette LévesqueCéline LomezThree ski instructors are busier in accumulating love than in giving lessons so they spend more time in bed than on the slopes.
- DirectorLuc DionneStarsMarianne FortierSerge PostigoHélène Bourgeois LeclercAfter her mother's sudden death, Aurore Gagnon is abused by her disturbed stepmother as her town remains in the silence followed by her death. Based on a true story.
- DirectorSébastien RoseStarsClémence Dufresne-DeslièresSophie LorainSébastien RicardA girl (16) regularly fakes distress along the highway so she can rob good Samaritans who pick her up. One day, a man dies by mistake by her side. A fragile friendship will then slowly develop between her and the unsuspecting widowed wife.
- DirectorMonia ChokriStarsPatrick HivonMonia ChokriNadia TereszkiewiczAfter a sexist joke goes viral, Cédric loses his job and embarks on a therapeutic journey to free himself from sexism and misogyny. He and his girlfriend hire a mysterious and liberated babysitter to help shake things up.
- DirectorTracey DeerStarsKiawentiioRainbow DickersonViolah BeauvaisBased on true events, Tracey Deer's debut feature chronicles the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 Quebec.
- DirectorErik CanuelStarsMichel BeaudryPatrice BélangerPierre BoudreauTwo Canadian detectives, one from Ontario and the other from Quebec, must work together when a murdered victim is found on the Ontario-Quebec border.
- DirectorAlain DesrochersStarsColm FeorePatrick HuardMarc BeaupréA francophone S.Q. officer and an anglophone O.P.P officer reunite to investigate a large car theft ring led by an Italian mobster.
- DirectorCaroline MonnetStarsPascale BussièresDevery JacobsSamianTwo radically opposed women quickly divide an Indigenous community into two sides who must then come face to face to determine the best path to independence.
- DirectorLyne CharleboisStarsIsabelle BlaisJean-Hugues AngladeAngèle CoutuAn erotic drama about a woman facing her 30th birthday who looks back at her life growing-up with her grandmother, crazy mother and her over-indulgence with men, sex and alcohol.
- DirectorDenis CôtéStarsJames HyndmanSimone-Élise GirardDenis LavantA man begins having an extramarital affair to deal with his emotional and companionship needs while caring for his terminally ill wife.
- DirectorAlexis Durand-BraultStarsGabriel SabourinDenise FiliatraultSophie LorainJulien publishes an autobiography focusing on his childhood memories and his odd relationship with his long-estranged mother. His mother, who is unaware of the book's content, tries to reconnect with him and redeem the lost time.
- DirectorAlain ZaloumStarsRoy DupuisAnémoneMichel MullerAn awkward robber named Vincent Papineau seizes a cheap painting during a burgling of routine in Montreal. Reselling for a bread bite, he learns that it concealed 50 000$ dissimulated in it's frame and that it belonged in fact to a certain Carlo, boss of the Marseillaise Maffia. In fact, the name of Carlo is the diminutive of... Carlotta Luciani, expert in vendettas. Carlotta launches out the search of her painting, in company of Marius, her henchman. The chance smile to Vincent, disguised as a priest to escape his prosecutors, he is noticed by two police officers who mistake him for Claude Laurin, a colleague of the "brigade" that everyone believed on vacation. Conscious that it will be uncovered at the return of the true cop Claude Laurin of which he usurped the identity, Vincent profits from it to elaborate an incredible plan with his friend Dieudonné.
- DirectorErik CanuelStarsPatrick HuardJulie LeBretonSylvie BoucherOne Halloween, the alcoholic mother of good-for-nothing Raymond suddenly dies, and he throws her body in a ditch. Repenting, he calls his sister Angelie, an actress who he has not seen for ten years, to help find the corpse. But the corpse they bring back in the ruined family home is not that of their mother. The brother and the sister start a sinister adventure involving two gangsters in dire straits, two chilling dealers, a dishonest artist agent, a terribly stupid cop, and a horde of pigs.
- DirectorJean-Marc ValléeStarsVanessa ParadisKevin ParentHélène FlorentA love story between a man and woman. And between a mother and her son. A mystical and fantastical odyssey on love.
- DirectorRafaël OuelletStarsJulien PoulinPatrice DuboisMaude GiguèreGermain and his sons try to turn their family dynamic upside down so they will have hope for the future.
- DirectorNathalie Saint-PierreStarsEmilie BierreJoyce-Tamara HallRosine Chouinard-ChauveauCentered on the lives of four young Quebec girls between 6-18 years old, living in the DPJ.
- DirectorBenoit PilonStarsNatar UngalaaqÉveline GélinasPaul-André BrasseurIn 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family.
- DirectorMathieu DenisSimon LavoieStarsCharlotte AubinLaurent BélangerEmmanuelle Lussier MartinezA group of young people in Québec resolve to form a revolutionary cell together in the aftermath of student protests.
- DirectorSophie LorainStarsRomane DenisAnthony TherrienRose AdamThree teenage girls explore their first taste of freedom: Charlotte, the recently heartbroken, Megane, the anti-love anarchist, and Aube, a virgin who dreams of love - all three smitten by the guys at the "Toy Depot."
- DirectorAnaïs Barbeau-LavaletteStarsDenis MénochetKacey RohlK.C. CollinsAs the country explodes after the assassination of Martin Luther King, writer Romain Gary, humanist and animal lover, and his wife, star Jean Seberg, civil rights activist, welcome an abandoned dog into their home.
- DirectorSophie DupuisStarsThéodore PellerinJean-Simon LeducPaul AhmaraniJP and Vincent, two brothers from a dysfunctional family, get involved in their uncle's drug cartel. Things quickly start spiraling out of control for Vincent, the younger and more unstable of the two.
- DirectorSébastien DrouinStarsAllen LeechNina BergmanYan TualA driver saves a waitress from her ex. He continues driving but crashes during a blizzard. Now injured and trapped in a ravine, he spots a beast stalking him. With dwindling time he must find a way to survive the cold and the predator.
- DirectorPhilippe FalardeauStarsOlivier GourmetPaul AhmaraniJean-Pierre CasselAn eccentric Belgian inventor travels to Québec to search for his family, which uncovers a secret history between two seemingly unrelated people.
- DirectorMathieu DenisStarsAnthony TherrienAntoine L'ÉcuyerKarelle TremblayA teenage Québecer in the 1960s evolves from pro-independence activist to radical terrorist, in this gripping chronicle of the origins of the FLQ in the decade preceding the 1970 October Crisis.
- DirectorRichard CiupkaStarsMitsouPatrick LabbéThierry MagnierThe film tells the story of a violent and passionate love between two ambitious teenagers in the background of nowadays Montreal.
- DirectorRaymond St-JeanStarsÉric BruneauBenoît GouinRose-Marie PerreaultIn the late 1970s, the most feared hitman in the Montreal underworld, Donald Lavoie, found himself hunted down by his former accomplices and by a tenacious police officer.
- DirectorRobert MénardStarsMichel CôtéLouise MarleauGeneviève RiouxThe same actor plays four kinds of male animals prowling four kinds of Montreal nightclubs.
- DirectorMichel CôtéRobert MénardStarsMichel CôtéVéronique Le FlaguaisMarie-France DuquetteThey're back! Fifteen years later, the heroes from Cruising Bar may hardly have changed but the world around them most certainly has! For the Bull, reality is brutal. His wife of 30 years, sick of his infidelity, decides to show him the door. But the Bull, who has a positive outlook on life, isn't so easily defeated and fights for his survival. The Lion too faces a break-up when his girlfriend leaves. All alone, he's force to relearn the art of seduction. The Peacock, on the other hand, is trying to figure out his sexual identity with the help of a psychologist. As for the Earthworm, his long wait for a soul mate will, at last, be requited.
- DirectorDenis CôtéStarsEmmanuel BilodeauPhilomène BilodeauRoc LafortuneOn the fringe of society in a remote part of the French-Canadian countryside, the fragile relationship and unusual private life of a father and daughter is jeopardized by dreary, unforeseen circumstances.
- DirectorSéverine CornamusazStarsAlexandre EtzlingerRoy DupuisSabine TimoteoA young hopeful teenager is waiting for his unknown and fantasized father to come out of prison. His family dream life is seriously undermined by an exhausted mother and a man who, after so many years in jail, has become unable to be a responsible father.
- DirectorÉmile GaudreaultStarsMichel CôtéLouis-José HoudeRémy GirardFather and son, both cops, who despise each other must unite and infiltrate a Father/Son therapy retreat in order to make an important biker gang leader fall and save a brother cop who's been kidnapped.
- DirectorÉmile GaudreaultStarsMichel CôtéLouis-José HoudeKarine VanasseA few years after they infiltrated a therapy program for fathers and sons, Marc Laroche is having some issues with his girlfriend Alice and Jacques is experiencing intense denial towards the fact that he is growing older.
- DirectorClaude FournierStarsMonique MercureLouise TurcotMarcel SabourinTwo women neighbors, exasperated by the fact that their husbands do not pay much attention to them, have sexual adventures with several men, usually delivery men or repairers.
- DirectorBenoît PelletierStarsPatrick HuardAntoine BertrandGuy JodoinAfter experiencing the summit, the talk show host Marc Morin is at a crossroads in his career and in his personal life. To restart, his agent booke against his will stay in Haiti, five years after the 2010 earthquake, to act as spokesman for a Quebec NGO? Piece there. Marc does not want to? Go, do not have time, has not the heart. But the adventure he is about to experience significantly change the direction of his life. For the better. Accompanied by a superficial communication officer, a zealous photographer and an amateur singer, Marc achieves a media tour that will be furnished with all the unimaginable inconvenience this lame universe, to kidnapping. Marc discovers a thousand miseries miles but beauties. Above all, he will discover what he wants for the rest of his life.
- DirectorStéphane LafleurStarsFrancis La HayeFanny MalletteMichel DaigleBenoit and Maryse: a brother and sister with seemingly normal lives. Everything is changed by a series of coincidences... and the arrival of a man claiming to come from the future.
- DirectorAndré TurpinStarsSophie NélisseMylène MackayLise RoyComplex time shifting drama revolving about a violent senseless murder and young witness.
- DirectorMichel BraultStarsClaude GauthierGeneviève BujoldPaul GauthierA young singer-songwriter abandons his life in his hometown and moves to the city to make it big. He achieves fame, but it comes at a price.
- DirectorMélanie CharbonneauStarsNoémie O'FarrellJuliette GosselinMounia ZahzamThere is Laurie, the girl next door, trying to become fabulous. There is Clara, the media social star living just for the "likes". And there is Elizabeth, rising up against everything. The three friends would live the summer of every possibilities, experimenting in a chaotic way the paradoxes of all young modern woman's life.
- DirectorCharlotte Le BonStarsJoseph EngelSara MontpetitMonia ChokriA shy teenager on a summer vacation experiences the joy and pain of young adulthood when he forges an unlikely bond with an older girl.
- DirectorMaxime GirouxStarsMartin DubreuilHadas YaronLuzer TwerskyIn Félix and Meira, an unusual romance blossoms between two lost souls who inhabit the same neighborhood but vastly different worlds.
- DirectorKevin TierneyStarsOlunike AdeliyiDorothée BerrymanJean-Guy BouchardA group of English-speakers travel to a small-town in Quebec in order to learn French.
- DirectorGuy ÉdoinStarsPascale BussièresMégane ProulxMicheline LanctôtDiane Messier, living on a farm with family, experiences trauma after an accident, believing her house is haunted. Her daughter Angèle returns from Florida to support Diane and reunite the family amidst Diane's concerning behavior.
- DirectorDaniel RobyStarsPatrick HuardJustin ChatwinPaul Doucet1976. Montreal. Eight people who wanted to see and be seen at the trendiest disco will be juggling fame and anonymity until they will be forced to make sober choices in an era when excess was the norm, and when disco was king.
- DirectorLouise ArchambaultStarsGabrielle Marion-RivardAlexandre LandryMélissa Désormeaux-PoulinGabrielle is a young woman with Williams syndrome who has a contagious joie de vivre and an exceptional musical gift. Since she met her boyfriend Martin, at the recreation centre where they are choir members, they have been inseparable. However, because they are "different," their loved ones are fearful of their relationship. As the choir prepares for an important music festival, Gabrielle does everything she can to gain her independence. As determined as she is, Gabrielle must still confront other people's prejudices as well as her own limitations in the hope of experiencing a love far from the "ordinary".
- DirectorJacob TierneyStarsJay BaruchelAnne-Marie CadieuxDiane D'AquilaVictor is new to Montreal and attempts to make friends with the wheelchair-bound Spencer and the cat-loving Louise, but everybody is on edge with a serial killer terrorizing the neighborhood.
- DirectorMartin TalbotStarsVictor Andres Turgeon-TrellesSophie DesmaraisMarcel SabourinAs the sisters who raised him have to leave, Henry has to figure out how to live by himself within the city. He finds a job in a lighting shop and claims to "lighten up people's life". His job will bring him to discover friendship and love.
- DirectorMarc-André LavoieStarsPaul DoucetÉric SalvailRémy GirardFour men running a hotdog factory are at odds with eachother..when one thinks he's getting fired he inserts his tooth into the hotdog mix leading to a PR disaster.
- DirectorSamuel ThiviergeStarsSamuel ThiviergeSamy NaceriLéa Girard-NadeauInspired by a true story, a young man from a good family becomes an effective and seductive con artist, crushing the dreams of innocent people in his wake.
- DirectorAndré BrassardStarsDenise FiliatraultMichelle RossignolFrédérique CollinCriss-cross stories adapted by author Michel Tremblay's popular plays from the Plateau borough in Montreal.
- DirectorLouis PortugaisStarsAimé MajorHélène LoiselleJ. Léo GagnonWe witness the race for marriage of thousands of young people, wanting at all costs to escape conscription, then we are transported to the war factories and we thus witness the difficulties of work in this place. Then it's the Italian campaign in 1943 and, finally, the return to Quebec where readjustment to civilian life proves more difficult than it seems. These events are experienced and told by the voice of a young man.
- DirectorLouise ArchambaultStarsAndrée LachapelleGilbert SicotteRémy GirardThree elderly hermits live in the woods. While wildfires threaten the region, their quiet life is about to be shaken by the arrival of two women - A story of intertwined destinies, where love can happen at any age.
- DirectorAnaïs Barbeau-LavaletteStarsOmri IlanLionel CalniquerGil DesianoA Canadian doctor finds her sympathies sorely tested while working in the conflict ravaged Palestinian territories.
- DirectorXavier DolanStarsAnne DorvalXavier DolanFrançois ArnaudA semi-autobiographical story about Hubert as a young homosexual at odds with his mother.
- DirectorAnne ÉmondStarsAlexane JamiesonLéanne DésiletsRobin AubertJuliette is in her second year of high school and she has to handle the mockeries of other students. Complexed by her overweight, the young girl enters teenage years full of twists and turns.
- DirectorMariloup WolfeStarsLilou Roy-LanouetteJeanne Roux-CoteVictor Andres Turgeon-TrellesVera and Zak meet while Vera sells her charms and the Zak makes small jobs to survive. Enthralled by an instant love, they settle down in a decrepit house where Yanna, their daughter whom they raise in a spirit of freedom, is soon born.
- DirectorPatrice LalibertéStarsGuillaume LaurinMarie-Evelyne LessardRéal BosséA fatal accident at a remote survivalist training camp sends participants into a panic - and sets the stage for a chilling showdown.
- DirectorClaude JutraStarsGeneviève BujoldRichard JordanMarcel CuvelierQuebec, the 1830s and 1840s. As she attends the bedside of Jérôme, her second husband, Élisabeth recalls her youth, her marriage to her first husband, Antoine, life in remote Kamouraska where he is seigneur, their love dissolving in his mental illness and cruelties, her falling in love with an American physician, Georges Nelson, and the aftermath of Antoine's violent death.
- DirectorAndré ForcierStarsFrançoise BerdLucille BélairMadeleine ChartrandCharles Méthot, propriétaire d'un bar menacé de faillite, accepte la gérance d'un bar de banlieue pour sauver son propre commerce. Après une aventure sentimentale décevante avec une danseuse, Charles décide de profiter du mariage de sa fille pour fermer définitivement son bar. Bar Salon, c'est un conte lucide sur notre asservissement quotidien à un monde qui nous dépasse. C'est l'album de famille des ''loosers''; ces perdants qui perdent précisément sans sourciller parce qu'ils n'ont rien à gagner, absolument rien. Bar Salon, c'est le désespoir à l'état pur, d'où naîtra l'espoir.