Hiding in plain sight, you might have passed it by once or twice. It’s whistling past the graveyard, tucked away beneath the fairyland starlight of St-Laurent: Cinéma L’Amour has become a defining symbol of Montréal’s modern adult entertainment industry—and one of the last Cinemas Libertins of its kind.
In all its vintage grandeur, the cinema delivers on its promises as a discreet cruising location. Playing primarily 2000s hardcore pornography, the theatre embraces a nostalgic, no-frills approach to adult entertainment, providing a playspace for its community as long as consent will allow. The velvet seats are generously proportioned. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., admission for visitors (who must be 18+) is $16.50 CAD—with free-entry promotions for couples all day on Mondays and Tuesdays and evenings on Thursday. The cinema also offers free-entry promotions for trans women on Wednesdays. Whether you come for the films, the atmosphere, or even just for a good time, L’Amour is good company to have on a red night out.
A frequent patron who wished to remain anonymous spoke to The Tribune about L’Amour’s significance to trans women in particular.
“The alternative is to meet these random strangers at their apartments or nearby parks; it’s scary. This space makes me much more comfortable,” they said.
Built in 1914, the building was originally a Jewish Vaudeville theatre called Le Globe; the theatre played Yiddish films during the 20s and 30s, undergoing its first renaming to The Hollywood in 1932. In 1969 it was turned into a location for the American adult theatre chain Pussycat. By 1981 Cinema L’Amour was officially established as it exists today, now a small three-generation family-run business.
At one point in time, there were actually two such cinemas: One in Montreal, and another just across the bridge bordering Ontario. As a result of differing provincial adult content laws, each film had two editions—one explicit, one heavily edited. With Ontario imposing stricter restrictions, many Ontarians would travel to Montreal just to see the unedited screenings.
A regular of 10 years who wished to remain anonymous noted the familiarity of the crowd.
“It’s not uncommon to see some old and new people every week. I met a colleague here once,” he admitted with a laugh. “It’s one of those things where you just give a nod and move on.”
Unlike Entre Nous 2, another popular swinger venue that was forced to close down due to lack of business during COVID-19, Cinema L’Amour has only grown in popularity since the pandemic.
The resurgence of interest in adult venues reflects a broader shift—one that has been years in the making. Long before the pandemic, the opening of L’Orage, a Montreal swinger lifestyle club, marked a pivotal moment in Montréal’s history, redefining Québécois liberal attitudes towards sexuality. As the first club in North America to accept swingers into a private play area, the club became the centre of legal controversy after a 1998 police raid led to 41 members being charged with public indecency. This marked the beginning of a landmark court battle that would redraw the limits of public decency.
Though initially convicted at lower courts, Jean-Paul Labaye, owner of L’Orage, was given a favourable ruling after appealing to the Supreme Court in 2005, reshaping Canada’s obscenity laws and establishing a framework that defines indecency not by moral standards but by context, consent, and potential harm.
A fact often overlooked about Montreal is that it ranks third in terms of global adult film production, just behind Los Angeles and Amsterdam. In fact, it is the birthplace and headquarters of MindGeek, renamed Aylo—the parent company behind Pornhub, Brazzers, XVideos and many other pornography subsidiaries.
One insider who wished to remain anonymous spoke on the importance of these types of spaces to the local community.
“There aren’t that many third spaces today, they’re dying out,” X said. “A lot of people here treat it like their home because for many people it kind of is their home.”
Montreal’s unique cultural profile has long placed it at the forefront of sex liberalism in North America. With its progressive and defiant spirit, the city is actively pushing the envelope when it comes to reimagining what a city’s role might be in acknowledging sex work and legitimizing adult entertainment as an integral component of personal freedom.
