Beautiful sleaze

The architectural gem Cinema l’Amour
celebrates four decades of filth

SEX LOVES COMPANY: Steve Koltai

by MATTHEW HAYS

While Montreal has a reputation as a sex capital, its X-rated cinemas have faced the same challenges those in other cities have. Since the advent of the Internet, porn is so accessible that donning the trench coat and heading off to discreetly see naughty movies is no longer necessary.

But after four decades, Cinema l’Amour, on St-Laurent at the corner of Duluth, still manages to draw respectable numbers. This week, the venerable Montreal institution celebrates its 40th birthday as a big-screen porn emporium, with a live performance and a screening of the 1965 Russ Meyer cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

“It’s not easy to run a business successfully for 40 years,” says Steve Koltai, Cinema l’Amour’s current owner, who inherited the theatre from his father Ivan. “I think our success is because the cinema is not just about porn, it’s about social interaction. People want to come here to meet up and spend a cheap day at the cinema. It’s only 10 bucks.”

Globe goes down

Koltai points out that the allure of the cinema also has to do with its beautiful retro décor. With its stunning design, audiences can look at a piece of ass while enjoying a piece of history. Cinema l’Amour was built in 1914 and was originally called le Globe, apparently after Shakespeare’s theatre in London. It was originally a combination of cinema and live theatre venue. The neighbourhood was then predominantly Jewish, so le Globe screened many Yiddish-language films throughout the ’20s and ’30s.

In 1932, the cinema changed hands and was renamed the Hollywood. By 1969, the owners decided there was money to be made in pornography, so they changed names again, this time to become the PussyCat. In 1981, Ivan Koltai purchased the cinema in order to create a small franchise. He had already owned a Cinema l’Amour in Hull and wanted to screen films at both cinemas.

“My father had the cinema in Hull, because the laws in Quebec were far more permissive about what you could screen,” Koltai recalls. “So we were located near Ontario, so people would cross the border to see our films.”

Koltai says the cinema has rarely had problems with the police. “Our films all get passed by the Régie, so there are no issues around censorship. The only way the police come is if they get called. I think sometimes people get jealous if something’s going on and they’re not included. There was a time a woman was in the men’s room, and I think maybe she was giving blowjobs or something, and I think someone was left out and they got jealous, so they called the cops. But by the time the police came, it wasn’t happening anymore, so nothing came of it.”

Porn again

Koltai says the biggest brouhaha happened when a local French-language daily newspaper did an exposé nine years ago. “Their headline was like, ‘Porn on the big screen, live orgies!’ It was really sensationalized. They went undercover for weeks and I think they saw one couple doing something, and that was it, but they blew the whole thing up.”

The upside, reports Koltai, was that “we got tons of customers after that. People read it and believed it. But they showed up and were like, ‘Is this geriatric porn? Where’s the live sex show?’”

Cinema l’Amour even ruffled a few feathers among Mirror readers. When the paper began including the X-rated showtimes in the film repertory listings a decade ago, a few angry letters protested porn getting the extra exposure.

“The cinema itself is quite magnificent to look at,” says Aaron Hancox, a local filmmaker who made a documentary about the cinema and who is organizing the 40th birthday bash. “At the same time, it’s this weird dinosaur. It’s amazing they can keep it running, given the Internet. They obviously have a very faithful clientele.”

Hancox says the reason he chose a Russ Meyer film to celebrate was because when the PussyCat first opened its doors 40 years ago, they showed a Meyer double feature. The night will kick off Grindhouse Wednesdays, in which a cult movie and band will play the first Wednesday of every month.

Koltai says Cinema l’Amour has picked up business in recent years, with the advent of swingers clubs. “Couples come here to check out the movies and other couples before they head to the swingers’ clubs. It’s understandable that things begin here, or that people might be inspired that way. I mean, everything’s geared to intimacy. It’s impossible to come and not get turned on by the movies. I should really be renting rooms as well.”

CINEMA L’AMOUR’S 40TH BIRTHDAY
PARTY, AND INAUGURAL GRINDHOUSE
WEDNESDAY, KICKS OFF DEC. 2, 9 P.M.
FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! SCREENS
AT 10 P.M., THE HELLBOUND HEPCATS WILL
PERFORM AND THE EVENT WILL BE EMCEED
BY MONTREAL AUTHOR DANIEL ALLEN COX.
4015 ST-LAURENT, $10,
FUNDS GO TO HEAD & HANDS