Gilles Lellouche’s Beating Hearts (L’Amour Ouf) received a standing ovation at the Grand Théâtre Lumière during the Cannes Film Festival. The French film, which tells the story of two former childhood sweethearts from different backgrounds who reconnect after years apart, was a competition entry by Studiocanal.
The cast of the film includes François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos, as well as Raphaël Quenard, Benoît Poelvoorde, Elodie Bouchez, Vincent Lacoste, Alain Chabat, and Jean-Pascal Zadi. Based on the 1997 novel Jackie Loves Johnser OK? by Irish writer Neville Thompson, the story is set in Dublin’s tough suburbs in the 1980s. Director Lellouche adapted the story to France and co-wrote the screenplay with Ahmed Hamidi and Audrey Diwan.
Lellouche expressed his passion for the story at Unifrance’s Paris Rendez-Vous. “I fell in love with this book and this story about a violent love story,” he said. “I jumped into this adventure with Ahmed Hamidi and Audrey Diwan.” Studiocanal plans to release Beating Hearts in France on October 16th.
