Quote:
"Using a female Chaplinesque character, the film [Desperanto, Patricia Rozema's contribution to Montréal vu par...] critiques the cultural and linguistic divide of the two solitudes with humour, entertainment, and a self-deprecating persona that appeals to both female and male viewers—especially English Canadians, who can readily identify with her awkwardness and sense of inferiority in the face of francophone snobbery. Rozema's use of the comedic genre allows the audience to laugh at the typical English Canadian anxieties."
-- George Melnyk

Source:
Melnyk, George. "The Gendered City: Feminism in Rozema's Desperanto (1991), Pool's Rispondetemi (1991), and Villeneuve's Maelström (2000)." In Film and the City: The Urban Imaginary in Canadian Cinema. Edmonton: AU Press, 2014. (p. 84)