CANNES – A very popular actor in his native France, Gilles Lellouche has dipped his toe into filmmaking co-directing one movie and helming another over the past 20 years. Nothing he’s directed previously would prepare anyone for the impressive visual authority he welds over the camera in “Beating Hearts,” which debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. There’s actually very little in his first collaboration with cinematographer Laurent Tangy, 2018’s “Sink or Swim,” that would hint at this level of cinematic creativity. The duo has fashioned an aesthetic for “Hearts” that is often impressive (at first). It’s unfortunate that the romance at the center of the movie can’t live up to the lens Lellouche is viewing it through.
Adapted from Neville Thompson’s 1997 novel “Jackie Loves Johnser OK?,” the film chronicles the lives of Clotaire (initially Malik Frikah) and Jackie (Mallory Wanecque), two kids from somewhat different sides of the tracks in a working-class city somewhere in the Northeast region of France. Jackie lives with her widowed father (Alain Chabat) in a nice suburban home while Clotaire’s large family is packed into a small apartment. A chaotic environment where his father (Karim Leklou) resorts to physical punishment almost every day. He simply can’t control his son. It turns out no one can.
The pair of star-crossed lovers meet as 15-year-olds on Jackie’s first day at her new school. Coltaire has already dropped out, but his slacker crew is having fun mocking the students still enrolled getting off the bus. When he tries to insult her, Jackie snaps back at him with a read he can’t respond to. And like a firecracker going off, he’s instantly in love. Coltaire isn’t necessarily prime boyfriend material, however. He’s a juvenile delinquent who is prone to get into spontaneous fits of rage (the boy needs a therapist) and has already been recruited to work for a local crime boss, La Brosse (Benoît Poelvoorde). After initially flirting his way into Jackie’s heart he finds himself preoccupied with assignments for La Brosse. Mostly robberies and beating up people who owe a debt to the boss. Drugs? Nah, this is the mid-80s (or somewhere in that vicinity). That’s not La Brosse’s business.
When La Brosse and his gang believe they need to cancel a potential hit at the local port facility, it’s Coltaire who informs them a worker’s strike will give them the runway they need. That tip turns out to be a life-changing mistake. The heist – which is staged like something out of an early Michael Bay movie – goes sideways quickly. Not only is Coltaire framed for a murder La Brosse’s son Tony is responsible for, but he takes the worst advice possible from the sham lawyer provided by said boss. For a movie where plausibility is thrown to the wind time and time again, his trial is almost laughable. The teenager doesn’t defend himself (mom and dad are just there for dramatic effect we suppose) and he’s horrified to discover he’s been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Young Jackie telegraphs heartbreak (sorta), but there is little Lellouche does over the first hour to portray the teenage romance between the two as life-changing. Despite Frikah and Wanecque‘s obvious talents, the pair aren’t selling a love affair for the ages. That makes it a bit difficult to be invested in whatever happens next.
Fast forward a decade (or is it 12 years? Did Coltaire get out early on good behavior? Who knows!), and our anti-hero (François Civil) returns home to a loving mother (Élodie Bouchez) who thinks her son can do no wrong and a now grow up younger sibling, Kiki (Raphaël Quenard), who is ready to follow Coltaire into the fires of hell. Meanwhile, Jackie (Adèle Exarchopoulos), seemingly depressed over Coltaire’s absence, blew off good grades and a shot at University to find herself working at a car rental company. She’s bad at it, of course, and ends up getting fired. After being forced to let her go, her superior, Jeffrey (Vincent Lacoste), is charmed by her insolence and asks her out on a date.
Coltaire soon discovers a lot has changed since he’s been gone. Tony (Anthony Bajon) has kicked his dad to the curb, has spun his criminal enterprises into a major drug-dealing operation, and has no intention of giving Coltaire any reward for taking the fall for him. And when he knocks on Jackie’s front door after asking her not to visit or contact him while in prison (thank you exposition), her father has even more bad news. Jackie has a new life and is now married to Jeffrey (who honestly doesn’t seem like a bad guy until the movie needs him to be). Thankfully, his childhood buddy Lionel (Jean-Pascal Zadi) is still around for some much-needed comic relief.
In case you missed it, an important recap. Coltaire told Jackie not to visit him. Not to write to him. Not to contact him while in prison. And, yet, is crushed when he discovers she moved on with her life while he was gone. Ah, yes, and there’s 90 minutes to go!
As the film progresses, the narrative choices somehow become even less believable and Lellouche begins to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the screen. There are recurring dance numbers (sorta), a cringe-worthy montage giving cliche ’90s American hip-hop music video, and a prelude that turns out to be utterly pointless. At one point, a perfectly timed car explosion occurs right after Coltaire slams someone and you wonder, is this meant to be self-aware? Has Lellouche seen “Hot Fuzz”? Does he think this is cool?
Like their younger counterparts, perhaps if Civil had Exarchopoulos had some genuine on-screen chemistry all would be forgiven. Maybe “Beating Hearts” would be worth its wild and bumpy ride. But, oh, no. We’ve still got 20 minutes left. Strap in. [C-]
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