Beating Hearts
⭐️ ⭐️ 1/2 (out of 5 stars)
Beating Hearts was described as an ultra-violent musical and romantic comedy as it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The French production was based on Irish author Neville Thompson’s novel, Jackie Loves Johnser OK? Actor turned director, Gilles Lellouche, works to fulfill the expectation of the original description on an epic canvas of 161 minutes. [
video: https://youtu.be/DjMOo9Ssbj4?si=EO6NnoRcVh-JMI7D]
This romance begins between Jackie (Mallory Wanecque) and Clotaire (Malik Frikah) during the era of mix tapes and rotary-dial phones of the 1980s. She was the rebellious daughter of a widower who struggled to focus in school while he was a high-school dropout and pseudo-leader of a small teen gang. Their unlikely love affair blossomed as Jackie attempted to finish school and Clotaire tried to make his way on the streets, until one fateful day when he is wrongly accused of murder and sentenced to 12 years in jail. This causes Jackie (Adèle Exarchopoulos) to lose meaning as she heads to a free fall of morality and hope. Until Clotaire (François Civil) is released years later, the two must determine if their lives should be reunited despite all that has happened to them both over the years.
The struggle in this production is determining what it was meant to be and why we should even care. As a romance, the budding relationship between the teen actors did little to prove that either would lose all sense of purpose upon losing each other. Then, giving it the musical label is exceptionally generous when only a few Flashdance at Footloose-inspired scenes make anyone think this was musically influenced. Even the ultra-violent label is unwarranted; even though there were acts of violence that came along, few of them would push this film to bear this moniker. Yet, as things unfold on screen, Gilles Lellouche had much to say, but most of the components failed to come together in the end.
In saying all of this, there was something worth discovering in the beauty of the cinematography and François Civil’s performance as the older Clotaire was worth engaging with throughout the film's second half. Still, one must wait over an hour and a half to get there. There are signposts along the way that give this story promise, but they only prove to be taking us all to a less-than-rewarding dead end. Beating Hearts lost its way, fought to get it back, but ultimately failed to reward those willing to hold on throughout the extended run time for it to find itself.
Find out more about Russ Matthews latest book: Reel Marriage
Reel Dialogue: Where can you find hope in the suffering?
Like many French productions, Beating Hearts has its lead characters remaining hopeless throughout the film. Their hope was in their teenage relationship, but when this was upended, so was all hope for living.
Throughout our life on this earth, we strive to find comfort and seek after the least painful means of living. From pain medication to alcohol to air-conditioning, being in the Western world can be relatively pain-free, but is this the true ideal? Looking back at history, mankind continues to prove that trials can bring out the best in us. Few people seek out difficulties in their lives because they come without having to look for them. When confronted by these challenges, personal development and testimonies generally show what individuals have within themselves.
This is also evident in biblical history. Each book of the Old Testament and New Testament shows that life's tribulations provided actual growth for the people of the past, and these lessons can be a gift for us today. This is epitomised in the life and times of Jesus, whose painful end brought forward the answer for all our difficulties.
