Will Gilles Lellouche’s Beating Hearts be this year’s Past Lives? There was a lot of love for it at Cannes where it competed for the Palme d’Or and earned a minutes-long standing ovation. But critical reviews were less favorable, and it remains to be seen if the film will be warmly received when more eyes are on it this awards season.
Starring Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil, Beating Hearts follows childhood lovers who find their romance torn apart when he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Years later they are reunited as adults living very different lives, with him traveling a very dark path of vengeance.
Also in the cast are Malik Frikah, and Mallory Wanecque. Lellouche is a renowned actor-turned-director who last helmed Sink or Swim in 2018, earning multiple César Awards nominations. He and Exarchopoulos last worked together on 2022’s Smoking Causes Coughing.
SYNOPSIS: Raised in a troublesome neighbourhood, local rebellious teenager Clotaire falls for his schoolmate Jackie, charmed by her fearless spirit and sharp wit. As powerful first love blossoms between the two, rampant gang violence entices him into a much darker path and ultimately destroys all they have built when he is charged with a crime he didn’t commit. After many years apart, now leading profoundly different lives, the star-crossed lovers discover that every path they’ve taken leads them back together, but will love triumph over Clotaire’s quest for revenge?
Beating Hearts opens in France on October 16th, but has yet to receive a stateside date.
