Ville-Marie

A suicide on the streets of a downtown Montréal borough unites the stories of a diverse cast of characters in Guy Édoin’s VILLE-MARIE. Witness to the tragedy, asthmatic architecture student, Thomas, misses the airport arrival of his mother, Sophie (Monica Bellucci), a European film star shooting a semi-biographical film under the direction of her onetime lover, Robert. Meanwhile, two paramedics, Pierre and Benoit, take the nearly lifeless body to an understaffed community hospital, where emergency room nurse, Marie, puts in countless hours of overtime rather than spend nights at home alone. In the aftermath of the tragedy, each character is haunted by his or her own troubled past. And as family secrets are concealed and revealed, none of their futures seems promising either. Scenes from the hyper-stylized film-within-a-film—and its equally melodramatic score—heighten the emotional tension, while the various narratives continue to intersect in this altogether gripping drama. (In French with subtitles) –E.B.