Come out of the closet, they say. ¨Come out and find your tribe, your chosen family.¨ But finding your chosen family is sometimes easier said than done, especially if you are older, working in a small business, and an immigrant with a poor grasp of the local language. Montreal, My Beautiful (Montreal, Ma Belle) examines this and other issues in an award-winning, heartfelt lesbian drama by director Xiaodan He.

Feng Xia (Joan Chen) is an attractive, middle-aged Chinese mother living in Montreal. Despite living there for fourteen years, she has a poor grasp of the local French language, few friends and little life to herself. She’s a loyal wife to ambitious husband Jun (John Xu), and devoted mother to daughter Joy (Pei Yao Xu) and young son Dong Dong (Anzhe Zhang). Jun and Feng Xia own and run a convenience store together. This fulfils neither of them, especially Jun, who wants to work as a road and bridge designer, his previous career in China. This vocation has so far eluded him in Montreal, causing him frustration and resentment.

Joy is about to leave for university, which means she will no longer be around to translate for Feng Xia. This prompts Feng Xia to join a French language class. There, she is inspired by the younger, more dynamic students, including gay Cuban Joseph (Zion-Luna Ribeaux-Valdes), to live her life more for herself. Joseph’s queer confidence stands in stark contrast to her conservative Chinese life to date, but he does help trigger memories of her own queer thoughts as a teenager back in China.

Her relationship with Jun is not great. He takes his career frustrations out on Feng Xia, he is a selfish lover, a traditionalist, and no fun. Feng Xia decides to live her truest life and creates an on-line dating profile looking for a woman. She quickly matches with Camille (Charlotte Aubin), a sexy local thirty-year-old waitress who’s looking for a friend-with-benefits. The seemingly relaxed Camille contrasts with uptight, inexperienced Feng Xia and their initial meetings and sex are awkward. Camille’s friends are also much younger and more casual and flippant than Feng Xia´s conservative community. Feng Xia gradually relaxes into her new secret life, whilst maintaining her existing home life with her family. Juggling the two becomes increasingly complicated and matters soon reach a dramatic head. How are things going to pan out for Feng Xia?

Xiaodan He has taken a welcome, brave, commercial step in storytelling around a minority character – a middle-aged, queer, menopausal Chinese woman. Hopefully her gamble will pay off as Montreal, My Beautiful is poetic, modern and features many relatable themes – loneliness, migration, finding the right path in life for yourself, love, the navigation of relationships and chosen family and more. The cast is strong, and Chen and Aubin share a robust chemistry, the sharp contrasts in their personalities portrayed as beautifully as their shared attributes. Xu shines too as the lost, self-centred Jun, struggling to make his life work. The mother-daughter chemistry is also very entertaining. At almost two hours, it could have done with a slightly sharper edit, but overall it´s a warm-hearted, refreshing take on a queer coming-out story that defies convention.