L'arnacoeur, 2010 (Heartbreaker)

L'arnacoeur, 2010 (Heartbreaker)
Director: Pascal Chaumeil
Cast: Roman Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier


Stage: Summer movie /drive in on Gospodarsko Razstavišče, Ljubljana


L'Arnacoeur in short: You could say Alex Lippi is a ladies' man but it is not true. Of course he has already wooed and charmed armies of women, young and less young, French and foreign. But Alex does it only on active service. Indeed he is appointed to break up undesired couplings. This time he must prevent a rich young lady from marrying an English millionaire. The girl is beautiful and the future husband a perfect match. Will he manage to accomplish this difficult mission?


Preps: I have only seen the short review of the movie. Plus, I have won the tickets for this summer drive in option. I am curious of both, the placement (how am I going to hear it), and the storyrun. Should be good.



Reality: Well, first a few words about the drive in experience. It's by far the worst experience of seeing a piece. Not because of the company, because I really enjoyed it, but because nowadays the seats in the cars aren't designed to match expectations from a person that wishes to relax and enjoy a movie. We aren't in a plane and we cannot really move as we want. Plus, the "seating" wasn't turned towards the screen, so you needed to stretch your neck so hard it hurt the day after. And the seats have some things in the middle, so you really cannot move. The turning on the radio and finding the frequency of the movie (the voice), this was something new and exciting. All in all, something I was really looking forward to test, but it failed somehow.

The piece.. a romantic comedy about a company that breaks up relationships, with the main protagonist and James Bond crew that stands behind him. A good story, a good pitch once he starts talking - about the aim of the company he works for and the role of his sister with her husband in this story. However, the movie deals merely with the operational execution of the deal / project that company agrees to deliver. It definitely doesn't go where I believe it should go, to make it more realistic. This is a guy that kisses virtually hundreds of women, under different names, some kind of Tom Cruise in MI or James Bond, changing names, professions, telling lies, .. and living smoothly? Eventually I think it cracks, you cannot go on so long undercover and not suffer emotionally and psychologically. This is where the movie is lacking content. I would be curious to learn more about this.

In some sense, the director tries to put in some of this lacking experience, when he falls for this last girl he is working on. Still, it doesn't show enough, but I remain curious enough to really want to know how will it end. This is a virtue that most of the movies don't have anymore and think should look up to.

For the photography, scenery, costumography, clothing.. brilliant. You can really enjoy this "Bond" global feeling, because the scenes are carefully polished, the costumes are trendy, the technology he uses makes you think he's a bit of McGyver - it's really not real :) But still, because you want, you buy it. I believe some FBI or CIA agents could pull some of this together, but a family in a truck? I don't buy it. So they should work on this to make it more believable.

A good run to fight a boring evening. Will make you think about your decisions, who you are with and who are the men you meet from time to time - are they paid to make temptations to you? Or is this pure coincidence?

My personal rating: 6,0 (a solid romance, good drive through the story and a nice touch to end the message of the story with). But drive-in experience.. definitely overrated.


L'Arnacoeur on IMDB