CITY OF A DREAM: Montreal as a utopian project?

Movie Review by Sergio Martinez

Those who go see this movie will find an unexpected revelation: the foundation of Montreal is rooted in a utopian project. The information is all located in a mysterious manuscript that served as the basis for City of a Dream, an engaging documentary directed by Annabel Loyola.

According to the research that director Loyola presents in her film, a Sulpician priest, François Dollier de Casson, in his manuscript titled History of Montreal of 1672, would have documented what, in fact, would be Jeanne Mance's account of the founding of Montreal and the motivations behind the project.

Annabel Loyola, the film director
during her research in Paris

France in the 17th century was in the middle of a crisis involving not only a dire economic condition for most people but also a complex spiritual situation. A group of men and women formed the Society of Notre-Dame de Montréal with the utopian proposal of returning to the roots of Christianity: the search for "a Christian humanism that advocated brotherhood and equal dignity for all." Given the prevailing conditions in France at the time, Canada seemed a good place to put into practice such an idea. Montreal would be the cradle of such a new society. According to the film: "They wanted to create a new world where the indigenous peoples of Canada and the French would live together without distinction."

The manuscript that narrates the utopian project that Montreal once was

Instrumental in the foundation of Montreal were Jérôme le Royer de la Duversière, founder of the Hospitalières de Saint-Joseph, and Jean-Jacque Olier, founder of the priests of Saint Sulpice in Paris. Both were also members of a secret society: the Company of the Blessed Sacrament. Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance would do the work in the land itself.

City of a Dream presents a very interesting format: besides the images of the manuscript kept at the Mazarine Library in Paris, including some in which Loyola is handling the historical document, and some views of Montreal, it includes scenes with Pascale Bussières and Alexis Martin. The actress reads the story as told by Jeanne Mance, while the actor interprets the voice of the Sulpician who wrote the manuscript. This recourse allows the spectator to approach the text reflectively as if they were attending to the narration from the historical characters themselves.

The Mazarine Library in Paris

This documentary is the third part of a series that this filmmaker made on the subject of Montreal. We recommend it, especially to those who want to know more about the history of this city and, in particular, some of the less-known aspects of why Montreal came into existence.

In theatres from May 27. Duration 74 min.