AFFFF25 Beating Hearts

The phenomenal Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is The Warmest Colour) and François Civil (The Three Musketeers) – arguably French cinema’s brightest young talents – devour the screen in Gilles Lellouche’s vibrant, genre-spanning romantic epic that follows a written-in-the-stars infatuation tested by social boundaries, betrayal and circumstances beyond all control. Love makes one crazy. Just ask Clotaire (Civil) and Jackie (Exarchopoulos), who meet in their teens in their Northern France working-class neighbourhood in the 1980s. Despite their differences - she is a diligent student from the middle class, he a charming troublemaker with a complex family life - an intense and unmistakable connection is sparked. But tragedy soon pulls them apart. A decade later, Clotaire tries desperately to win back his lost love. But has his chance passed? Driven by a kinetic soundtrack by Jon Brion, indelible production design and all-star supporting cast, BEATING HEARTS pays homage to the US independent film wave of the 80s and early 90s but creates an impact truly of its own. Delivering another massive, crowd-pleasing blockbuster result at the French box office (after Sink Or Swim) with an extraordinary 5 million admissions, Lellouche reaches for the stars and rewards all who strap in for the ride.