Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur) [DVD] (2010)

Charming is really the word that springs to mind. Alex runs a business based on his hiring (usually by rich fathers/brothers) to break up unsuitable relationships. This time he is hired to seduce a French heiress and consequently prevent her from marrying a young Englishman. He has one week to succeed.

Is this movie original, ground-breaking and multi-layered? No, of course not, and it wouldn't be fair to expect it to be. Is this movie fun, heart-warming and a real break from reality? Absolutely, and it delivers in spades.

After several darker movies (The Beat my Heart Skipped being his most notable effort) Romain Duris returns to lighter fares and proves effortlessly that he is one of today's most promising French actors. He's way too toothy to be traditionally handsome, and yet he is incredibly seducing and completely credible in the role of a professional heartbreaker. As for Vanessa, well anybody who's seen her in movies before will know what to expect: very talented, very sweet, very pretty and very French.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the journey even if you know the destination.

17 of us watched this for my sisters birthday. I was a bit dubious on hearing what the film was but what a fab time we all had (including a few guys).

Alex Lippi (Romain Duris), working together with his sister and brother-in-law, makes a living out of liberating women from relationships which they don't even acknowledge to themselves make them miserable. The team functions like a well-oiled machine, with Alex's sister Melanie in charge, her husband Marc providing technical assistance and Alex 'working on the front line' using seductive tactics (but never full seduction... he's a pro, but not THAT kind!) to show his targets that they're letting themselves down by settling for relationships they don't really find fulfilling. But when the high-living Alex finds himself at the mercy of debt collectors, he breaks from his pattern and takes on a case trying to effect a high-speed break-up where the wealthy couple, English businessman and philanthropist Jonathan Alcott (Andrew Lincoln - 'This Life', 'Love, Actually') and his wine critic fiancee/ florist's empire heiress Juliette Van Der Becq (Vanessa Paradis) seem to be truly in love.

This predominantly French language film is a charming and well-put together rom com with high production values and excellent chemistry between the stars. However, the plot feels rushed towards the end - and not just in terms of the slightly screwball elements. The hostile relationship between Paradis' character and her father is never properly justified - he's earning money from (mostly) unspecified shady activities and for much of the film it seems as though these are the reason for the friction between the two. Towards the end, though, it is revealed that Juliette missed her mother's dying whilst touring as a groupie and her father resents her for it. This creates a layering of emotion, but in an otherwise fairly simple rom com plot comes across as a bit muddled: who is supposed to be upset with whom? These things aren't resolved.

All things told: this is a cute enough film but isn't one of the best rom coms ever.

i) The best DO NOT draw heavily upon other films from the same genre. 'Dirty Dancing' was a lovely film... but copying bits from it doesn't automatically transfer greatness.
ii) The ending feels rushed - especially where Paradis's character's relationship with her father is concerned.
iii) The subtitles are not good. In the worst case I noted, a reference to: "La fille d' Alain Prost" is subtitled as "Michael Schumacher's daughter" - I *kind of* understand the temptation to redefine cultural references in subtitles to enhance international understanding BUT this is really, really patronising. "Michael Schumacher"'s name is pretty comprehensible regardless of the surrounding language... it isn't spoken, but Prost's name (a clear cultural reference to a FRENCH F1 driver IS). GRRRR!

Overall, quite a sweet film with nice performances. Let down a bit by its heavy reliance on 'Dirty Dancing', a hurried conclusion and somewhat dodgy subtitling.

That said, I do find it irksome that Amazon - most unkindly - use a 5 star scale for customer reviews... but then refer to 3 star reviews as 'critical'. I liked this film... but didn't find it particularly noteworthy i.e. SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE. For most people on a 5 star scale, that's how a 3 star rating would be assessed.