Movies Filmed In Montreal

A few movies filmed in Montreal

So many movies are shot in cities like New York, London, Berlin, and Los Angeles that you probably wouldn’t watch them simply because that’s where they were filmed. While the city of Montreal has had its share of films over the decades, they are not as ubiquitous when you search for something to watch on one of your subscription services. In fact, many movies filmed in Montreal leave the city anonymous, so you’d only know it’s Montreal if you’re already familiar with our wonderful city.

If you love Montreal as much as I do, you might watch a movie because it was filmed here. As the founder of Expat In Montreal is a lifelong film buff, this post was a long time coming. Since ours is more or less a bilingual city (trilingual for many of its immigrants), this list includes — in addition to movies with English dialogue — some that will require subtitles if you don’t speak le français québécois.

Good Neighbors (2010)

Good Neighbors is a Canadian dark comedy thriller written and directed by Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky, 2009). Starring Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, and Scott Speedman, it’s based on Quebec novelist Chrystine Brouillet’s first book, Chère Voisine (1982). As a metaphor, I guess, Good Neighbors  transpires on the eve of the 1995 Quebec referendum. As mentioned in a New York Times review, “For three English-speaking Montrealers, facing an outside threat means relying only on one another”. In determining if it’s worth your time, you can think of it as a misanthropic-ish, not entirely unpredictable noir romcom. Keep in mind it’s hard to go wrong with Baruchel, Hampshire, and Speedman intermingling [image above]. Of these movies filmed in Montreal, this may be the only one including footage of the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighborhood, where the story takes place.

Lignes de fuite (2022)

Lignes de fuite (Lines of Escape) is a Québécois dramedy based around a reunion of 3 high school friends at age 30. « À l’occasion du vernissage de la compagne anglophone de leur amie du secondaire, une journaliste et une comptable, flanquées de leurs conjoints respectifs, vivent des retrouvailles acrimonieuses. » Catherine Chabot not only wrote the theatrical stage play (of the same name) that was used as the basis for the movie, but she also starred as one of the three friends. As it progresses, Lignes de fuite sheds its lighter side and becomes existential. Added depth never hurt anyone, but some viewers don’t appreciate such a shift; as for me, a movie that questions everything is what can make Canadian cinema stand above Hollywood’s lowest common denominator dreck.

Since the movie was recent, the shooting locations are, with an exception or two, places that are still open for business. A lengthy scene was filmed at L’Espace Canal, followed by a shorter one at Riverside (both are on the Lachine Canal in Saint-Henri). There was a short walking scene in a pleasant waterside area between the Ferris wheel and the Jacques Cartier bridge, and now I really want to know exactly where it is. Other long scenes included one in a karaoke bar, and another at a Uniprix pharmacy (not necessarily in Montreal). An early scene was shot on a rooftop terrasse in Old Montreal.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a Canadian dramedy based on the 1959 novel of the same name written by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. Directed by Ted Kotcheff (First Blood, 1982), it stars Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, Randy Quaid, Denholm Elliott, Jack Warden, and Montreal-born Joseph Wiseman. “In a bid to gain respect, the neglected younger son of a working class Jewish family in Montréal embarks on a series of get-rich-quick schemes to buy land surrounding a lake.” If you only know Richard Dreyfuss as an old guy, you’ll be astonished to see that he was once young. Just get rid of an preconceived notions you might have about this film, because it’s probably unlike anything you’ve seen. 

Duddy Kravitz feels like one of the first color movies filmed in Montreal, but perhaps this is because the setting is a Montreal of the 1950s, rather than the 1970s when it was filmed. You will notice a couple of Montreal institutions still present on the Plateau today, including Fairmount Bagel (considered by many to offer the best bagels in North America) and Wilensky’s, a kosher-style lunch counter located on Fairmount Avenue. A brief moment also sees Duddy at the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Monument, which Montrealers of today know is the site of the Tam-Tams (this movie was released a couple of years before the first Tam-Tams is believed to have occurred).

Eternal (2004)

Eternal is a Canadian horror / mystery / erotic thriller directed by Wilhelm Liebenberg and Federico Sanchez. No movie stars, but film buffs may know some of the main players like Caroline Néron, Conrad Pla, Victoria Sanchez, Sarah Manninen, and Arthur Holden. “Detective Raymond Pope is a detective of questionable morals, searching for his missing wife. His investigation leads him to the wealthy estate of the enigmatic Elizabeth Kane and her young maid Irina.”

As you can probably guess by this premise, there’s no shortage of sexual encounters in Eternal, although most of them don’t end well for at least one of the participants. A detective, a femme fatale (or two), some chiaroscuro plus 9½ Weeks lighting: yes, you can jam it into the neo-noir category. But from the beginning you’ll understand it’s a supernatural film. Is it any good? If you like this kind of thing, it’s a solid 6/10; nothing groundbreaking, no need for special effects, but plenty of evil and sex (and evil sex). As with any middling movie from the genres of film Eternal fits into, there’s no shortage of the tropes you’d expect.

If you love seeing iconic Montreal locations in movies, you’ll be pleased that the Eternal filmmakers went out of their way to include them in scenes or B-roll shots. Several scenes were shot at Habitat 67, a striking Montreal landmark that many locals nonetheless have never visited. You’ll also see Hector Guimard’s art nouveau entrance portico of the Square-Victoria–OACI Metro station, the Jacques Cartier Bridge, and locations in Vieux-Montréal such as Hôtel de ville and Place d’Armes. Overall, the cinematography and visually absorbing sets and locations help to keep Eternal a slightly above average flick in its field.

Le plongeur (2023)

Le plongeur (The Dishwasher) is a Canadian drama directed by Francis Leclerc (Mémoires affectives) and based upon a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Stéphane Larue. The story is set on the Plateau of Montreal in the winter of 2002. The protagonist is Stéphane, a 19-year-old metalhead. He aspires to be an illustrator trained in graphic design, but instead becomes addicted to gambling. Stéphane ends up as a dishwasher at an upscale restaurant as he tries to hide from the gambling world; here he meets the other main characters of the film.

Le plongeur stars Henri Picard as Stéphane and Charles-Aubey Houde as Bébert. The anglo in the film is Bonnie, who serves as the grounding force in the kitchen. She moved to Montreal to study journalism at Concordia but dropped out because “Montreal is too much drinking and partying” (a believable line for a Canadian coming to Quebec from another province). Joan Hart, who plays Bonnie, also appears in To Catch a Killer, another of the movies filmed in Montreal on this list. At least two of the bands in the movie are from Quebec, including Groovy Aardvark (Longueuil) and the famed Godspeed you black emperor! (Montreal).

Many aspects of Le plongeur scream “Montreal!”, such as hearing in one scene the horns that blare during the winter to warn denizens of tow trucks coming in advance of the snowplows, or like the anglo switching between French and English mid-sentence. And true to the story, locations chosen for so many scenes were filmed on the Plateau. I can’t tell you which exact bars, clubs, and venues were chosen as locations, because the early 1990s was when I did that kind of thing in Montreal. 

Is Le plongeur good? Well, it’s currently 7/10 on IMDb, which is a high mark for that site (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Casablanca both are at 8/10 on IMDb). In truth it’s just an average flick, but it’s got a fanbase probably for a number or reasons. Nostalgia for being 20-something, wild, and directionless — and for the music that went along with that. The struggles of addiction. A québécois twist on well-worn themes from American cinema that Quebecers can appreciate in the local patois. Many already know Le plongeur as a book. And heck, anyone who’s worked in busy restaurant kitchens can appreciate the chaos and uncertainty portrayed in Le plongeur. I enjoyed it also because Montreal was a main character in the story.

To Catch a Killer (2023)

To Catch a Killer is yet another Hollywood movie too ashamed to admit it was filmed in Canada. “Baltimore. New Year’s Eve. A talented but troubled police officer (Shailene Woodley) is recruited by the FBI’s chief investigator (Ben Mendelsohn) to help profile and track down a disturbed individual terrorizing the city.” Except that since it’s on our introductory list of movies filmed in Montreal, it was not Baltimore. As someone plenty familiar with Baltimore, I can vouch for some of the scene locations being interchangeable — in terms of architecture and environmental mood — between the two cities. But in North America there are plenty of generic urban locations that are, well, generic. While residents of Baltimore will recognize aerial B-roll shots of their city, they won’t recognize anything else.

Director Damián Szifron and the other filmmakers involved with To Catch a Killer  took pains to ensure that the omnipresent French words in Montreal signage do not appear in their movie. This is kind of a bummer if you want to “see Montreal” on the screen. If you know the Saint-Henri neighborhood of the city, you’ll probably notice the Greenspot diner on rue Notre-Dame. Not only were they able to get an uncensored shot of the exterior (since the name is in English), but they also went ahead and filmed a whole scene inside (blurring out all the French words, of course).

Was it a good movie? It’s only been a few months since I viewed To Catch a Killer on the small screen, yet I only remember the ending. It might have left more of an impression if I’d seen it in the cinema, because I would have been a captive audience. Unless your favorite genre is “American crime thriller” (or you’re a Shailene fanboy / fangirl), I suppose I can’t recommend To Catch a Killer. At least some philosophical questions were raised, which I appreciate in film. If you want a professional review, try this one out.

The Assignment (1997)

The Assignment  is a spy action thriller directed by Christian Duguay (Screamers, Un Sac De Billes) set mostly in the late 1980s, with the plot centering around a CIA agent (Donald Sutherland) obsessed with pursuing a villain using a US naval officer who look just like him (both played by Aidan Quinn). Ben Kingsley plays a Mossad commander who mistakes good-guy Quinn for bad-guy Quinn. The villain is based upon historical figure Carlos the Jackal, an assassin and street bomber who was protected and supported by the Stasi and the KGB. Since The Assignment is a 1990s Hollywood flick, don’t count on anything in it resembling a true story in the real life of Carlos the Jackal.

Other than in Israel, The Assignment was filmed in Laval, Montréal, and Hudson, Québec. A spy training exercise scene takes place in what appears to be the massive Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, which had its first burial in 1855. Another CIA training exercise was filmed on Mount Royal, including at the iconic Belvédère Kondiaronk overlook in the Parc du Mont-Royal. Neither of these locations in Montreal are particularly good spots for firefights and other CIA training, but they sure provide a good backdrop for movies. This one detail illustrates the level of silliness you can expect from The Assignment, which surely was not intended to be goofy but is a product of the the 90s.

The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

The Whole Nine Yards is a dark Hollywood crime comedy directed by Jonathan Lynn, starring Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Rosanna Arquette, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Natasha Henstridge. If you can’t say anything nice about a movie, maybe say nothing at all. Obviously the star power of this one is the reason to watch it. The movie’s homage to local culture consists of a recurring joke about using mayonnaise in Quebec more than in the USA. Yep, that’s what you can expect. Of all the aforementioned movies filmed in Montreal, only To Catch a Killer  is “less Montreal” than The Whole Nine Yards. Hollywood sure does make a mess of things.