Beating Hearts
| Company type | Film |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motion picture |
| Founded | 2024 |
| Headquarters | France, Belgium |
| Products | Romantic drama film |
| Parent | StudioCanal, Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, Trésor Films, France 2 Cinéma, Cool Industrie, Artémis Productions, RTBF, Proximus, BeTV, Shelter Prod |
Beating Hearts () is a 2024 romantic drama film helmed by director Gilles Lellouche, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Ahmed Hamidi and Audrey Diwan. The script is adapted from Neville Thompson's 1997 novel Jackie Loves Johnser OK?. This France-Belgium joint production features leads Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil, supported by a diverse ensemble cast including Mallory Wanecque, Malik Frikah, Alain Chabat, Benoît Poelvoorde, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Élodie Bouchez, Karim Leklou, Raphaël Quenard, and Anthony Bajon.
The film made its debut in the main competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2024, where it was met with predominantly unfavorable critiques. It was subsequently released in French cinemas on 16 October 2024 by StudioCanal and distributed in Belgium by Cinéart. At the 50th César Awards, Beating Hearts secured 13 nominations, including Best Director, Best Actress for Exarchopoulos, and Best Actor for Civil; Alain Chabat won Best Supporting Actor.
Premise
Set over two decades, the narrative unfolds in North East France, focusing on two teenagers from contrasting social environments—a girl hailing from an upper-middle-class family and a boy from a working-class background—whose relationship unravels when he turns to crime and serves a 12-year prison sentence.
Cast
- Adèle Exarchopoulos as Jackie
- Mallory Wanecque portrays Jackie at age 15
- François Civil as Clotaire
- Malik Frikah plays Clotaire at 17 years old
- Alain Chabat as Jackie's father
- Benoît Poelvoorde as La Brosse
- Vincent Lacoste as Jeffrey
- Élodie Bouchez as Clotaire's mother
- Karim Leklou as Clotaire's father
- Jean-Pascal Zadi as Lionel
- Raphaël Quenard as Kiki
- Anthony Bajon as Tony
- Louis Raison as Clotaire at age 12
Development
On 2 September 2013, director Gilles Lellouche revealed his intention to adapt Neville Thompson's 1997 Irish novel Jackie Loves Johnser OK? into a film, describing the project as "an ultra-violent romantic comedy." The inspiration came through actor Benoît Poelvoorde, who introduced Lellouche to the novel. While Poelvoorde initially collaborated on the screenplay, Lellouche later partnered with Ahmed Hamidi and Audrey Diwan starting in 2019.
A teaser poster was presented on 9 July 2021 during the Cannes Film Festival's Marché du Film, promoting the project as "an ultra-violent musical and romantic comedy," with an anticipated release in 2023; however, the cast was not yet announced at that time.
The production is a collaboration among several French companies: Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, Trésor Films, StudioCanal, France 2 Cinéma, and Cool Industrie. The initial budget was set at €32 million ($34 million), representing StudioCanal's largest financial commitment to a French-language feature. Belgian partners include Artémis Productions, RTBF, Proximus, BeTV, and Shelter Prod. Belgium’s Tax Shelter later disclosed that the overall budget exceeded €35 million. According to the CNC's 2023 data shared via Cineuropa, final costs amounted to €35.7 million.
Producers Alain Attal and Hugo Sélignac characterize the film as "an emotional rollercoaster blending love, violence, and dance." The choreography was crafted by the dance company (La)Horde, which contributed three original pieces. The soundtrack incorporates iconic tracks from the 1980s and 1990s by artists such as The Cure, New Order, Madonna, Nas, and Jay-Z. The storyline covers periods from the 1970s through the 1990s.
Director Lellouche acknowledges influences from filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, as well as inspiration drawn from West Side Story (1957).
Casting
On 7 February 2023, the casting announcement revealed François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos as the leading actors, alongside confirmation that filming would take place between May and September 2023. Director Gilles Lellouche had previously worked with both Civil and Exarchopoulos as co-stars in the 2021 production BAC Nord, which was co-written by Audrey Diwan.
Élodie Bouchez was added to the cast on 28 March 2023. The complete roster of actors, unveiled on 21 May 2023, included Mallory Wanecque, Malik Frikah, Alain Chabat, Benoît Poelvoorde, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Karim Leklou, Raphaël Quenard, and Anthony Bajon. Producer Hugo Sélignac shared the film’s poster on Instagram, which was featured on the cover of that day’s edition of French magazine Le Film français.
Filming
Principal photography commenced on 9 May 2023 and extended over a period of 88 days, wrapping up on 15 September 2023. The shoot spanned several locations across France, including Villeneuve-d'Ascq, Dunkirk, Lille, Douai, Valenciennes, Cambrai, Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Calais, Saint-Omer, Béthune, Lens, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, and Montreuil-sur-Mer. Additional scenes were filmed at the Institut Saint-Henri de Comines situated in Comines-Warneton, Belgium.
Post-production
During an October 2023 appearance on the French television program Beau Geste, Gilles Lellouche indicated that the film's duration would be "at least 3 hours." He reaffirmed this statement in a January 2024 interview with Variety. Despite this, the official Cannes Film Festival website listed the runtime as 2 hours and 46 minutes—a length corroborated by reviews following its Cannes screening.
On 13 October 2024, Lellouche disclosed that the original cut prepared for January 2024 was four hours long. Subsequent editing after Cannes involved removing a dance sequence and two intense scenes to enhance François Civil’s character development. By 14 October, he mentioned having reworked the film’s conclusion up until the previous weekend, just before its French theatrical debut on 16 October 2024. The final French theatrical release has a runtime of 2 hours and 41 minutes.
Release
The film had its world premiere in official competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2024 and was later selected for screening in the Limelight section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam scheduled for February 2025.
It opened in cinemas on 16 October 2024 in France through StudioCanal and in Belgium via Cinéart. The international title outside France is Beating Hearts. Notably, this project marked the first co-acquisition by Canal Plus, Netflix, and France Télévisions. The film was presented to international buyers at a Unifrance event held in Paris in January 2024.
Critical response
Beating Hearts predominantly garnered unfavorable critiques, ranking lowest among films competing officially at Cannes in 2024. The jury grid from Screen Daily assigned it a score of just 1.3 out of 4 stars. Similarly, French site Chaos Reign and American platform Ioncinema delivered some of their poorest ratings to the film. It also appeared on Metacritic’s list of the festival’s least successful entries.
Adam Sanchez from GQ France labeled it a letdown, while Arjun Sajip at IndieWire criticized its shallow portrayal of a character of color. Tim Grierson of Screen Daily commended Malik Frikah and Mallory Wanecque’s performances but noted a lack of chemistry between leads François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos.
Gregory Ellwood from The Playlist awarded a C- grade, citing an unconvincing romantic storyline paired with clichéd plot elements such as awkward dance scenes and exaggerated moments. Jordan Mintzer writing for The Hollywood Reporter described it as "overblown and downright vulgar," faulting its stereotypical depiction of working-class individuals along with an excessive length of 166 minutes.
Alex Billington from First Showing dismissed it as an epic waste of time featuring an uninspired narrative and weak performances, especially from Exarchopoulos. French reviewers shared similar views: Catherine Balle of Le Parisien emphasized the film’s unclear identity between romantic comedy and gangster genres; Juliette Hochberg at Marie Claire praised its meticulous sound design but noted an absence of idealized romance; Samuel Douhaire from Télérama found it to be an exhausting mixture of styles but acknowledged strong work by some younger actors and Alain Chabat.
Céline Rouden writing for La Croix criticized its excessive stylistic choices and simplistic moral outlook, unfavorably comparing it to Baz Luhrmann’s films. Julien Rousset in Sud Ouest called it a "major disappointment" overwhelmed by music and violence. Gautier Roos from Chaos Reign questioned whether its budget and duration were justified.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it two out of five stars, stating that despite aiming to capture blue-collar energy, the film collapsed under its own naïveté. The French website Écran Large described it as overly clumsy with glorified violence. Fabien Lemercier from Cineuropa characterized it as a €35 million spectacle lacking subtlety but predicted it might attract viewers through aggressive marketing strategies while questioning its suitability for Cannes’ official competition.
Stéphane Gobbo from Swiss newspaper Le Temps concluded that superior films screened outside competition at Cannes deserved recognition over this one, emphasizing that despite occasional suggestions otherwise, it should not be considered a musical comedy.
Accolades
| Award / Festival | Ceremony Date | Category | Nominee(s) | Outcome | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannes Film Festival | 25 May 2024 | Palme d'Or | Gilles Lellouche | Template:Nom | [1] |
| César Awards | 28 February 2025 | Best Director | Gilles Lellouche | Template:Nom | [2] |
| Best Actor | François Civil | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Actress | Adèle Exarchopoulos | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Supporting Actor | Alain Chabat | Template:Won | |||
| Best Supporting Actress | Élodie Bouchez | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Male Revelation | Malik Frikah | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Female Revelation | Mallory Wanecque | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Cinematography | Laurent Tangy | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Editing | Simon Jacquet | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Sound | Cédric Deloche, Gwennolé Le Borgne, Jon Goc, Marc Doisne | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Original Music | Jon Brion | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Costume Design | Isabelle Pannetier | Template:Nom | |||
| Best Production Design | Jean-Philippe Moreaux | Template:Nom | |||
| Magritte Awards | 22 February 2025 | Best Supporting Actor | Benoît Poelvoorde | Template:Nom | [3] |
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcannes24 - ↑ Roxborough, Scott (28 February 2025). "'Emilia Pérez' Wins Best Film at France's César Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
- ↑ "Magritte du cinéma 2025: 'La nuit se traîne', nommé 11 fois, en tête des nominations de la 14e édition". La Libre Belgique (in français). 21 January 2025. Retrieved 22 January 2025.