This exhilarating look at Montreal’s drag scene is the third movie directed by Sophie Dupuis and staring Theodore Pellerin.  He plays Simon, make up artist by day, star drag queen at night, who lives with his best friend who is also his sister Maud.  When we first see him he is on stage pouring his heart into his act which is being lapped up by his adoring fans.  It looks like he is perfectly happy with his rather full life, but we quickly discover that is far from the truth.

What Simon lacks is love. He craves for both a boy friend and also some sort of relationship with his estranged mother who left home years ago to become a successful opera singer and who is now always touring.

He doesn’t have to wait long for either as one night there is Oliver (Felix Maritaud) a new drag queen trying out to be employed by the Club and they instantly lock eyes. Later Oliver professes that for him it was love at first sight, and a very smitten Simon agrees.

Soon they are together 24/7 even developing a drag act they can perform together at the club.  Initially Simon is overjoyed with this change in his life, even if it means, ignoring his sister Maud.  But the happiness doesnt last long as despite his declarations of love, Oliver takes to staying out all night having a series of one night stands.

This all happens at the same time his Mother is back in town to star at the Opera House. Simon tries every way to contact her, but she never returns his call until one day.  What Simon thinks will be a major reconciliation, turns out to be literally a 5 minute drink at her hotel, before her PA hustles her off.

Kudos to Dupois for the different layers of Simon’s quest for love with a plot that deals with abuse, trauma, drug use, loneliness, and the indifference from his self-absorbed mother and boyfriend. The chemistry between the very talented Pellerin and Maritaud is so authentic and a real highlight of the film……Pellerin is new to us, but we became big fans of Maritaud for his amazing performance in Sauvage 

Dupios  joins a very impressive legacy of French /Canadian queer cinema that we first became aware in 1996 with John Greyson’s LILIES.  Since then we have become real aficionados of the genre particular for the work of Jean-Marc Vallée, Xavier Dolann and Bruce La Bruce.  Now we can add Dupois to the list.