The best and worst of Quebec cinema in 2024

Le Bel Écran is a monthly column about Quebec's screen culture from a local perspective. 

In a strange confluence of fate and obligation, I watched fifty-three feature-length Quebec films released theatrically this year. Who could have guessed that the best Quebec film of 2024 would be an experimental ecological documentary about a moose corpse rotting in the boreal forest? 

How do you sum up a cinematic year? Five films earned over a million dollars at the Quebec box-office, questions of identity, masculinity and ecology rose to the forefront and the divide between critical and popular cinema widened. While movies like Nos Belles-Sœurs, a half-hearted musical adaptation of a popular Michel Tremblay play, earned $3.5 million on its own, over a third of the the entire $10.6 million record-breaking box-office for English Canadian film last year, critics celebrated small films that almost no one saw. 

If 2023 felt like a turning point for Quebec cinema, with seven films crossing the million dollar threshold at the box office and movies like Red Rooms, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person and The Nature of Love capturing the attention of critics here and abroad, 2024 was comparatively muted. 

But, that isn't to say it's a year without standouts. 

Robert Morin, one of Quebec's greatest living artists, released Festin boréal — an experimental ecological project about a moose being shot by hunters and left to rot in the woods. Engaging and thoroughly entertaining, the death scene overflows with life and animation as, over the course of several seasons, the frame fills with all sorts of weather and animal patterns. Described by one Letterboxd user, Benjamin Pelletier, as "Real life Disney for adults," the movie's unconventional topic engages our natural curiosity in the world we live in. It's this year's best film.

Many films this year dealt with the topic of toxic masculinity (chief among them Jour de chasse and Lucy Grizzli Sophie) but Philippe Lesage's epic, Who by Fire, may be the most complex take. Set in a cabin in the woods owned by a reclusive filmmaker, the movie follows seventeen year old Jeff's coming-of-age as he grapples with ambition, love and male competition in a tense environment. Without any clear heroes or moral lessons, it's a film that lingers uncomfortably as a spectacular cinematic achievement marked with haunting magical realism and violent emotional core.

Finally, with Soleils Atikamekw, Chloé Leriche creates a harrowing work of creative nonfiction as she examines the horrific events that unfolded in Manawan, 1977, when a vehicle fell into a river and five Atikamekws lost their lives. A multifaceted examination of injustice, memory and grief, Leriche challenges the conventions of classical narrative form in a reflection that blends dreams, memory and documentary to achieve a singular vision of unresolved trauma. 

For 24 Images, one of Quebec's film journals, editor-in-chief Bruno Dequen noted that

Soleils Atikamekw didn't receive a single nomination at the recent Gala for Quebec Cinema. Invariably, he argues, the industry voting body privileges films that are popular and widely seen. While noting he doesn't normally care for the auto-congratulatory tone of any awards show, he can't help noting that for an industry eager to celebrate diversity, it chooses to ignore films like Soleils that "undeniably, and exceptionally, doesn't allow us peace," in its exploration of difficult subjects.

Speaking in French to Duquen over the phone, he's quick to note he's less interested in individual films but in the big questions related to the year. He speaks quickly and gregariously. "My impression of this year is that it's difficult to really pin down. There aren't many films that set themselves apart at first glance, few that had a big impact," he says. "There isn't a film like Xavier Dolan's Mommy or C.R.A.Z.Y." For him the year can be summed up more broadly as one of divisiveness. 

As Duquen sees it, this year is exemplary of ongoing problems plaguing the Quebec film industry and cinema more broadly. "We're in an era where there are fewer films that are challenging. We are in an era of film bienveillant (cinema of good will or benevolence) that have a very clear moral stance," he says. 

As the editor-in-chief of one of the major film journals in Quebec, Duquen wonders about the state of criticism and public discussion when it comes to important questions related to art. He points first to the problem among critics, where the year's biggest box-office hits like Nos Belles-Sœurs are not covered or treated critically by film journalists. The divide between what appeals to the average Quebec viewer and the critical community only seems to be growing. 

For Duquen, this not only means a disconnect but reflects a much larger issue. "Everyone seems to be living in an echo chamber and there's no real place for discussion," he says. "Of course, people go online and everyone is able to express themselves but expressing an opinion isn't the same as having a discussion." Duquen points to questions of censorship and how, in recent years, it's become increasingly common for films to be pulled from lineups due to political reasons, such as examples in the past year of films produced either in Palestine or Israel canceled due to various political pressures.

The lack of spaces for serious and difficult discussions for Duquen means that large-scale industry problems are much harder to address. While specialized critics might highlight small, artisanal films, the industry as represented by SODEC or Telefilm will organize panels celebrating large-scale productions and distribution companies. Neither does much to address questions of distribution, such as what it means that Cinema Guzzos has closed one of its cinemas this fall due to financial difficulties or what leadership changes at the NFB/ONF mean for the future of cinema in Quebec and Canada. 

"So, we find ourselves in an eternal two solitudes between industry and critics. I have a hard time imagining how we can come together and actually get people to share and talk in a general way about the question of Québec cinema in serious way."