If Dolan is able to derive a certain comic tension from the simple threat of what could happen with these three in close quarters, he and his co-actors often spoil the mystery of the unsaid with the tells on their faces.
Heartbeats(Les amours imaginaires)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Canada · 2010
1h 37m
Director Xavier Dolan
Starring Monia Chokri, Niels Schneider, Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval
Genre Drama, Romance
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Francis is a young gay man, Marie is a young straight woman and the two of them are best friends -- until the day the gorgeous Nicolas walks into a Montreal coffee shop. The two friends, instantly and equally infatuated, compete for Nicolas' indeterminate affections, a conflict that climaxes when the trio visit the vacation home of Nicolas' mother. The frothy comedy unfolds through narrative, fantasy sequences and confessional monologues.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
In a sense, Heartbeats demonstrates that Dolan has a lot on his mind as a budding filmmaker.
Though his results are sometimes raw, Dolan seems to be chronicling heartache as he discovers it. Indulge him.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey
A light, slight, wry look at the beautiful and besotted, which gets away with not having much to say, thanks to its charm and excessive good looks.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Xavier Dolan is back with another madly stylish Montreal-made delight.
Director Dolan gets the feeling of emptiness so right that anyone who has ever known the heartbreak of a crushing affair can easily identify, even with subtitles.
Splashy colors, oddball framing, super-cool threads and cranked-up retro music supply the picture's bizarre love triangle with a dance-club atmosphere that'll seduce young audiences of most any orientation.
Far from being a liability, Dolan's youthfulness gives it unmistakable vibrancy: This is a love-crazy, movie-crazy affair, laying bare its emotions just as plainly as its influences.
Movieline by Stephanie Zacharek
There's a lot that works in Heartbeats - so much that its flaws stand out in disappointingly sharp relief.
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