Rose Maltais-Borris

This NFB docu-drama takes an unvarnished look at life in a working-class boarding house. Based on the filmmaker's memories of his own mother's boarding house in Cabbagetown, Toronto, the story revolves around Rose and how she runs her establishment. With a household as full and varied as hers, domesticity clashes with disputes about bootlegging, violence, and stealing. Even authority isn't exempt: she does battle with a social worker over her son's theft of a bicycle. Rose is the queen of her castle, and delivers her own brand of justice.

The loosely constructed plot revolves around two grown-up siblings who still live with their parents. Their already precarious lifestyle is threatened when their mentally unbalanced aunt comes to stay.