Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires)

This is a Candian film made in French by the 21-year-old Canadian Xavier Dolan. It is his second film. He made his first film, I Killed My Mother, when he was 20 years old.

Dolan also has a prominent role in the film (he is on the left in the image). This film is about style and coolness, or is is about very little. It is about two friends who both fall in love with an Adonis who comes into their lives (centre in the image). The strongest impression I had while watching this film was the enjoyable feeling that Dolan was having fun with the camera and loving it. He is particularly good at the jerky zoom, giving the impression of abruptly changing attention, implying the short attention span of these narcissistic characters. There is some nice slow motion, too, and whole scenes shot in monochrome, one in red and one in blue. There are extra characters who comment tangentially on the narrative, but are not a part of it. The film treads a fine line between mocking these characters and drawing us into the dramas of their lives. Marie (on the right, played by Monia Chokri) is a not terribly beautiful and slightly intellectual person wanting something more in her life. She dresses in 1950s and 1960s fashions. Dolan plays a stylish gay man drifting through his life. They both compete for the affection of Nicolas, played by Niels Schneider, when he drifts into their social circle, and the bulk of the film shows them socializing (and occasionally going to bed) as a threesome, with all the underlying tension of their competitive insecurity. The soundtrack music is diverse and enjoyable, particularly the use of Bang Bang, sung by Dalida.

This film gave me a very enjoyable two hours in the cinema.