Les amours Imaginaires - Heartbeats

Les Amours Imaginaires by Xavier Dolan


Canada















Xavier
Dolan is wonderful. Yes, he is, no matter what some may think about his
arty tricks, poetic choices and vintage slow-motion interludes. He is
young and fresh and puts it all out here: love’s clichés and the heart’s
pains decomposed and recomposed into an impressively shot, extroverted
piece of cinema. Les Amours Imaginaires (aka Heartbeats) is Dolan’s second feature, and it succeeds in bringing onscreen the same dose of irony and emotion as his début film, J’ai tué ma mere.
Only this time, there’s no gap-between-generations study; only
loneliness and a huge empty space to be filled with hope, panic, and
finally, desperation.






It’s not the story that makes the film, but Dolan’s
highly emotional and colourful approach to a trivial day-to-day
situation: a young love triangle wherein the only one who is actually
loved is a pseudo-homosexual, pseudo-womanizer Adonis. This desired one
makes the other two - a romantic guy looking for a soul mate and a
cynical, quite obsessive girl - fall madly in love then become
hopelessly depressed. Feeding this simple outline are all of Xavier’s
old-fashioned but, oh-so-tasty and joyful details. The slowing-down in
the right moments, the way he frames faces and naked bodies, and his
choice of soundtrack will surely get all young hearts beating faster
(attention! I said young hearts).


By Miruna Vasilescu