🎬💔 Montreal, My Beautiful Movie Watching (VIFF)

### 🎬💔 Would you choose yourself if it blew up your life? - Montreal, My Beautiful (VIFF)

Group watch + post‑film chat (optional).

Short summary

This one looks like a quiet drama… and then it hits you with a really adult question: what happens when desire shows up late, after you’ve already built a whole life around duty?
Montreal, My Beautiful (Montréal, ma belle) follows Feng Xia - a 53‑year‑old Chinese immigrant mother in Montreal - whose “responsible” life starts cracking when she meets Camille, a younger Québécoise woman.
It’s not a melodrama. It’s a movie about identity, exile, and the cost of finally choosing yourself.
We’ll watch together at VIFF, then (if you’re up for it) we do a 30 min talk.

What we’ll explore

• Did you judge her… or root for her? At what point did you think “yes, do it”… or “this is going to destroy everything”?
• Is “choosing yourself” liberation… or selfishness? And why do we react so strongly to that question when it’s a woman doing the choosing?
• Desire vs duty: what does the film make duty feel like - love, loyalty, numbness, fear, habit?
• What’s actually at stake: marriage, family, culture, reputation, immigration identity - what felt like the real “price” in this story?
• How does the movie film intimacy without turning it into a headline? What moments felt tender vs scandalized vs honest?
• The ending feeling: did you leave feeling hopeful… or like freedom always comes with casualties?

How we’ll do it

• Meet at VIFF a bit early, find each other in the lobby
• Watch the film together
• Optional: quick post‑film chat nearby (30 minutes). Spoilers allowed.

When and where

• 📅 Tuesday, Feb 17, 2026
• 🕒 3:30 PM
• 📍 VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre (1181 Seymour St, Vancouver)

Tickets :
BUY YOUR TICKETS ONLINE BEFORE THE EVENT. they might runout on the day of.
Book directly through https://viff.org/whats-on/montreal-ma-belle/

Optional note

• Film is listed as 118 minutes and in French and Mandarin with English subtitles.
• VIFF lists it as 19+.