Bonjour Toronto!
1965 · 28m · Canada
Directed by Clément Perron
Genres: documentary, essay film
Tones: contemplative, whimsical
A young Montrealer visiting Toronto for the first time tests his preconceptions against the Queen City's excitement and finds more to enjoy than expected, including a French bookstore.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A tourist poem about a guy liking Toronto more than expected—sounds like the definition of consensus-building pablum, but there's something quietly subversive about a Québécois essayist choosing wonder over prejudice in 1965, even if he wraps it in whimsy instead of provocation.
Perron's essay film operates within the tradition of the city symphony and the travelogue, but his restraint—the contemplative pacing, the lingering over architectural detail and human gesture—stakes a claim for the documentary essay as a form of philosophical inquiry rather than mere observation.
The genius is in the decision to let silence and stillness carry the emotional weight: Perron holds on Toronto's streets and storefronts without rushing to tell us what to feel, trusting the viewer's own preconceptions to do the work, which on a 1965 budget is everything.