Between family expectations and personal freedom, some desires are taught to remain silent.
In Montréal Ma Belle (2025), Feng Xia lives with the choice most queer immigrants must make: follow the predetermined role set for her by her culture, or risk everything to claim her own freedom.
Screened at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival (KCFF) at The Screening Room, Montréal, Ma Belle follows Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant navigating menopause, marital dissatisfaction, and a late-in-life exploration of same-sex desire. Directed by Xiaodan He and starring Joan Chen, the film explores discouraged sexuality within the larger pressures of immigration, assimilation, and family duty against the backdrop of Montreal.
The film foregrounds language as both a barrier and a tool for assimilation. At medical appointments, Xia’s daughter, Joy (portrayed by Pei Yao Xu), must straddle French and Mandarin to translate for her mother. The movie emphasizes the awkwardness of this position in one scene where Joy must translate Xia’s experience with menopause to her gynecologist.
Mandarin dialogues in this scene lack subtitles, forcing non-Mandarin-speaking audiences into the same partial understanding as the doctor. Later, Xia attempts to learn French in order to gain a sense of independence, much to the disapproval of her husband, Wang Jun, portrayed by John Xu.
The film initially draws you in as a story of layered immigration: while Joy has successfully adapted to university life, Jun faces barriers because his experience from China isn’t recognized. Meanwhile, in Canada, Xia feels trapped by the mundanity of her life, becoming the backdrop for her passionate, complicated exploration of queer desire.
Within these constraints, Xia’s longing for fun shines through. She begins an electric yet fraught affair with a younger woman, where she oscillates between obsession and shame, secretly texting, sneaking around with, and sometimes even mothering her lover. Scenes of her hesitating to be intimate in daylight illustrate her conflicted desires with what is expected of her and what she wants. Chen’s exceptional performance makes these moments feel lived-in, raw, and strangely relatable.
The central relationship of the film is just as conflicting for its viewers as it is for the women involved. Xia’s internalized homophobia and jealousy surface when her affair partner is intimate with others, while she keeps her on the hook, telling her she’s “getting divorced.”
A cabin trip where Xia and her affair partner get high and discuss their pasts feels tender, almost making you want to root for them before you think about the lack of a balance of power in their relationship.
The nuances of the leads’ relationship are explored throughout the film, rooted in Chen’s likeable portrayal of Xia. You can’t help but root for her to be happy, even when the consequences of her actions hold her back.
Montréal, Ma Belle is ultimately a powerful exploration of desire, identity, and the tension between personal freedom and cultural expectation. Through Chen’s nuanced performance, the film successfully captures the messy, complicated reality of navigating love and selfhood amid mundanities.
Tags
cinema, Film, Film Review, KCFF, Kingston Canadian Film Festival, Montreal Ma Belle, movie, queer cinema, The Screening Room
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