Movies by Léa Pool

L'habit du héros

L'habit du héros

Saad is a young Moroccan illegal immigrant who, together with his Iranian boyfriend Reza, attempts the perilous journey to America. As soon as they arrive in Montreal, Saad is called upon to save his lover from certain deportation to Iran, where a likely death awaits him. In a desperate ploy, Saad manages to seduce a Canadian immigration official. This impromptu romance brings him close to the comfortable America he idealized on the beaches of Tangier and undermines his heroic mission.

Anne Trister

Anne Trister

After the death of her father, Anne — a brilliant but emotionally unstable painter/sculptor — returns from Switzerland to her home town in Quebec. Setting up a studio, she becomes obsessed with her work, to the extent that she grows farther and farther from her Swiss lover.

The Savage Woman

The Savage Woman

Marianne, a young Canadian nurse living as an expatriate in Switzerland, is traumatized by a violent incident and becomes lost in the Alps. In time, a Swiss engineer working in the mountains discovers her; he gives her a place to stay and slowly gains her trust as she regains her health. However, he soon discovers she's wanted by the law, and circumstances become difficult for him as he tries to hide her from the authorities.

A Woman in Transit

A Woman in Transit

Even though the protagonist of the Canadian Femme De L'Hotel is a female filmmaker, one would think twice before suggesting that this effort by Swiss-born director Lea Pool is autobiographical. Paule Baillargeon portrays a well-known director who returns to her home town of Montreal to film a high-budget musical drama. At her hotel, Paule has a brief but unsettling encounter with a suicidal elderly woman (Louise Marleau). This element of the plot is briefly forgotten as we get to know the actors in Paule's current project. Then she meets the...

Hôtel Silence

Hôtel Silence

In this ode to resilience and life, Jean decides to set off on a one-way trip to a country destroyed by war with a minimum of luggage and a drill. But nothing is going exactly as planned. His despair quickly strikes him as derisory in the face of the fate of those who welcome him, clinging to the slightest hope of reconstruction. Upon contact with them, the urgency to end it no longer becomes so pressing, to the point where Jean little by little rediscovers a meaning in his existence.

Desire in Motion

Desire in Motion

During the long train ride from Montreal to Vancouver, a man and woman find themselves increasingly attracted to each other.

Worst Case, We Get Married

Worst Case, We Get Married

Aïcha is a troubled teenage girl who cannot forgive her mother for kicking out the stepfather she adored. Aïcha longs for him to come back and take her away. When she meets Baz, a man twice her age, it’s love at first sight for her; the real kind, the one that hurts. Baz wants to help this lost little girl, but she wants much more from him, and is ready to do anything to get it.

The Passion of Augustine

The Passion of Augustine

The nuns of a musical convent work hard in order to prevent the religious school from closing.