Six short movies by six successful Canadian directors are gathered in this anthology film, commissioned to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Montréal in 1992. The first film, directed by Patricia Rozema, humorously follows a bewildered Toronto housewife as she frantically attempts to enjoy her visit to this aggressively French-speaking city. She knows only English and must on one occasion resort to following the film's subtitles in order to understand what is happening. The second short feature by director Jacques Leduc attempts to encapsulate more than three centuries of history in brief documentary form. The third feature by Michel Brault parallels the action in a hockey game at the Montréal Forum with the divorce games of a young couple. In the next feature by Atom Egoyan, a lonely tourist experiences communication only from the headset narration provided by his electronic walking tour device. An automobile accident provides the occasion, in the next segment by Pierre Mignot, for a woman to have her life flash before her eyes. Finally, Denys Arcand shows an important governmental representative is quite innocently mangling the introductions being made to him as he stands in the receiving line of a cocktail party.
by Clarke Fountain
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