There are communities that look like families without being one, that allow otherwise isolated people to find an identity, a welcome. The queer community portrayed in the documentary Eviction, which is showing in Quebec cinemas, was clearly one of them. Mathilde Capone, filmmaker, followed five roommates forced to leave their apartment on Parthenais Street, in Montreal, whose building had just been sold.
Throughout the interviews, we understand that the place, famous for its festive gatherings, but also for its daily collective dinners, has a major importance in the queer community. Many found themselves able to finally be themselves, while their identity posed a problem everywhere else.
In this large apartment on rue Parthenais, therefore, it became possible to learn more about the administration of hormones, to observe a slow transformation of the body from one sex to the other, to dare, to some, pink tight-fitting clothes, leotards or high heels.
We learned that the group, upon its arrival, managed to lower the rent from $2,000 to $1,500 per month, due to work promised and never delivered. This reduction in rent has served many roommates for a very long time, reports a young woman involved in the housing committees, who herself has lived there for nine years. While the group distributes advertisements to advance its search for housing, its members advertise themselves as feminine, to be better accepted by potential owners.
Through their testimonies, we understand that housing, in such circumstances, is not interchangeable. That between four walls parts of history, pieces of life took place. That such a community sometimes appears like an oasis in the middle of the desert, where we take the time to regain strength before continuing on our journey. Some of the residents of the building on rue Parthenais stayed, others left. Before the queer community arrived, the apartment was once frequented by anarchists.
The gentrification of the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district is mentioned several times. Marginality is difficult to accommodate. We are talking about buildings housing people with mental health problems which are sold to numbered companies, who only wish to transform them to sell them at the highest possible price. Examples of eviction in Montreal news abound. The situation of the residents of rue Parthenais is not unique. However, the film illustrates to what extent a grouping, relationships, a living environment can have a concrete impact, particularly in the lives of marginalized communities. No offense to a real estate market focused solely on profits. Despite some lengths, Eviction has the merit of presenting housing problems through a lens rarely used.