Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Monia Chokri | ... | Marie | |
Niels Schneider | ... | Nicolas | |
Xavier Dolan | ... | Francis | |
Anne Dorval | ... | Désirée | |
Anne-Élisabeth Bossé | ... | Jeune femme 1 | |
Olivier Morin | ... | Jeune homme 1 | |
Magalie Lépine Blondeau | ... | Jeune femme 2 (as Magalie Lépine-Blondeau) | |
Éric Bruneau | ... | Jeune homme 2 | |
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Gabriel Lessard | ... | Jeune homme 3 |
Bénédicte Décary | ... | Jeune femme 3 | |
François Bernier | ... | Baise 1 | |
Benoît McGinnis | ... | Baise 2 (as Benoit McGinnis) | |
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François-Xavier Dufour | ... | Baise 3 (as François Xavier Dufour) |
Anthony Huneault | ... | Antonin | |
Patricia Tulasne | ... | Coiffeuse |
In a story interspersed with interview tales of romantic pitfalls, friendship turns to romantic rivalry for gay man Francis and straight woman Marie when a veritable Adonis named Nicolas enters their lives. Sexual tensions mount as Francis and Marie await Nicolas' show of preference. Written by statmanjeff
'Heartbeats' is a fun little film, a sort of Gallic rom-com, although don't expect the obligatory happy-ending where the two protagonists rejected in love hook up with each other. A simple story of unrequited love and ordinary obsessiveness, the film cuts to the chase in spite of its good looking characters and chic vibe: we're not all equally attractive, and we don't love another in equal amounts. The rejecter in this story doesn't even do anything particularly wrong, except treat others with a combination of openness and carelessness that is surely only natural when blessed with a certain type of good looks. The film's resolution of his hitherto ambiguous sexuality is clever, and the film as a whole is brilliantly orchestrated with a collection of popular songs, from different eras, each of which nonetheless is particularly chosen to fit a certain mood and to complement the images on screen at that time. Oddly, in spite of the emotional pain its characters are in, this film is a stylised paean to being young, beautiful and in love: the fact that it hurts only makes it sweeter.