If my kid read this review she would certainly kill me. Indeed, for French teenagers "L'amour ouf" (Breaking Hearts) is an upcoming cult film which could be compared to "La Boum" in the past. I don't want to lash out at Gilles Lellouch, who is a fantastic actor I like very much but somehow this film reveals he is a rather average director who delivers a good teenage film but with a lot of clichés and classical ingredients of a teenage film. For sure, the director put a lot of himself in it (like music, an appreciated sensitivity when it comes to intimate scenes, and all the memories of his from 80's and 90's) but it's clearly a film which does not bear or withstand an adult's analysis and criticism especially when it comes to analyse the verisimilitude of his plot, the good taste of his filming and the quality of the photography, .
First things first, this film is pleasant. But not much more than that. And that's the problem because you can clearly tell that the director wanted it to be either a cult, a masterpiece or a reference for any film that deals with the 80-90's nostalgia, teenage love and history of a revenge. At the end of the film, you may think it does not reach the standard of a cult movie, not to speak about a master-piece because we are quite far away from there. Was it worth 32 billion budget ? Not sure.
Nevertheless, one could argue that after a few months after its release it has already been a cultural phenomenon here in France from which tik tok and social networks have cashed in. And it's true, after a few clicks on the net (and a few French knowledge) you will find the replay of all the emblematic scenes , some smart "ass" would decipher the (very written) sentences and phrases of the heroe of the film: Jacky (played by Adèle Exachopoulos and a young promising actress: Mallory Wanecque). In fact the film has all the ingredients to make a good movie . As a matter of fact, the cast is just astonishing especially with Adèle Exachopoulos and François Civil as main actors who are in a realtionship in real life (do you know a better advertising than this ?). The supporting roles are also held by very good (expensive) actors like Benoit Poolvorde, Elodie Bouchez and Vincent Lascoste (all prized actors in the past). However, you sometimes wonder if their roles were important enough to be part of this "adventure"... like Raphael Quesnard (another rising star) who has appeared in every single French film lately but sometimes with insignificant part - that's the case in this film, his part is just trivial. In fact, the director relies too much on the weight of his stars, the weights of his words (he wants to make some cult sentences but it falls short most of the time) and too less on the power of the story or the input of supporting roles (which are not enough in this film) . Apart from Alain Chabat and his touching role as a widow father, the supporting roles are not to be remembered and it's a pity.
From the very first pictures of the film, you can tell the director is doing way too much to trigger empathy, nostalgy over the 90's and make us feel this powerful love deep in our bones. Too much music, too much dance, too much camera effects. Clichés are everywhere, it's one stereotype after another just as if he wanted to give his audience what it was expecting.
In addition to this overdose of music, there is what I would call a very personal or very adapted depiction of the 80's-90's which seem cool (it's fun to be brought back to theses memories with the recording tape and all), but the decade is americanized with Gilles Lellouche's eyes (especially in the way pupils take the bus to go to school or ride their motorbikes after school). You wonder if this is done on purpose because the original book took place in England (but England is not the States right ?) or you wonder if it's to make his audience comfortable with American clichés to make everything "cooler"?!!! (which would be lame). The problem is that everything is like that. The family relationships are manichean (a beaten child stopps school and no one says nothing to him), the adventure scenes are very gendered (the girls hold their nose when they dive whereas the boys make a backflip), and basically everything from beginning to end is very classic (the bad kid climbs up on old cars and is able to beat up adults with his hands).
You know where you are, what you are heading to, and the discovery of the rising stars Mallory Wanecque and Malik Frikah could make you forget all this cliché mania because they are fantastic. In fact, the first part, despite being clearly manichean and very often silly (but no need to be credible when it comes to gangsters, first love and street fights right ?) is quite brilliant. This incandescent love is pictured quite well, in a classic way but with style and dynamism. You expect a beautiful ending to it (you actualy thrive to see the two stars of the film: Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil from whom you expect to bring something new, more modern, after 12 years of gap in the plot).
The problem is that it is stricly the contrary that happens. François Civil and Adèle Exachopoulos bring nothing new, their performances are almost held back... with less intensity than their younger counterparts. I often told myself that they were not really playing a role but just acting like their own personality... and they are not helped with the megalomania of the director that can't help to do too much to emphasize their love, their fate and their beauty, making long (too long) scenes focusing on their face. This, is being perfectly represented by Adèle Exachopoulos's first scene: after an hour or so she enters in this film in the "simplest way possible", dancing on a trendy night club dance floor by moving her head with sensuality and touching her untied hair. Did you get the picture ?
This image should ring a bell. You would certainly recognize a cliché among others (one more please !!), but you could also think of beautiful films she actually played in like "La vie d'Adèle" (Blue is the Warmest colour), or in other famous films she refused to play in like "Mektoub my love" of the same director (Kechiche) which features a very long discotec dance's scene that was contreversal (however magnificient). And that is another problem of this film is that it's copied from other movies or it makes some "winks" to other movies just like Tarantino could do (but in a way worse way). You have a scene which reminds Dirty Dancing (too long, too cheesy), another one which is copied from the film "Hatred" (La Haine) (with the three lads on the roof), and loads of other references. Clichés, solid cinema references, and a great soundtrack, this is what this film is made of. All in all it looks like the perfect recipe for teenagers, a cheesy gift offered to them with no limit over the budget and two fantastic picks (that's for sure): (way better than the famous stars of this film !): Mallory Wanecque and Malik Frikah. Hats off for their two performances. Thanks to them you want to see more of this film that the ending should please youngsters and despair other people with more experience in cinema.
