‘Beating Hearts,’ Studiocanal’s Cannes Competition Title, Captures International Distributors Ahead of Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
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“Beating Hearts” (“L’amour ouf”), an epic crime romance directed by Gilles Lellouche and slated to compete at the Cannes Film Festival, has lured major distributors in key markets ahead of its world premiere.
The sprawling movie, which is budgeted in the $30 million range, is financed, co-produced represented in international markets by Studiocanal. One of the most anticipated and ambitious French movies set for a theatrical release in 2024, “Beating Hearts” was produced by Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi, a Mediawan company, and Alain Attal’s Les Films du Tresor.
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Studiocanal will distribute the film in Germany and Australia, as well as France, with a release set for Oct. 16. The company has sold it to Cineart in Benelux, Filmcoopi in Switzerland, Feelgood in Greece, Lucky Red in Italy, Lusomundo in Portugal, Kinoswiat in Poland, Greenlight Films in Ukraine, Capella in Russia and Pinema in Turkey. Studiocanal will be closing more deals at the Cannes Film Festival.
Based on Neville Thompson’s 1997 novel “Jackie Loves Johnser OK,” the movie is an emotional rollercoaster spanning over 15 years in the lives of star-crossed lovers. It took Lellouche over a decade to write (alongside Audrey Diwan and Ahmed Hamidi) and four months to shoot with a cast that mixes rising and famous actors (Mallory Wanecque, Malik Frikah, Adele Exarchopoulos and Francois Civil), a pulsating soundtrack of cult 1980s and 1990s songs (from the Cure, Billy Idol and Depeche Mode), topnotch key crew and musical interludes created by (La) Horde.
Lellouche, who is best known as a beloved and bankable French actor, struck a chord with his second directorial outing “Sink or Swim,” which grossing over $35 million locally in 2018. The movie also delivered Studiocanal’s largest ever box office gross for a local film in France.
“Beating Hearts” reteams Lellouche with Studiocanal and marks the banner’s biggest investment in a French-language movie to date. And while “Sink or Swim” had played out of competition at Cannes, “Beating Hearts” will mark Lellouche’s debut in competition as a director.
“We strongly believe in the incredible ambition and vision behind this unique film which is testament to our talented and visionary filmmaking team in Gilles Lellouche, Hugo Selignac and Alain Attal,” said Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh, who pointed to the success of “Sink or Swim” and “All Your Faces,” a recent Cesar-winning film produced by Selignac and Attal with Studiocanal.
Marsh said the premiere of “Beating Hearts” at Cannes will be “a moment in time … to discover this film on the big screen and for everyone to experience this epic and spectacular love story.”
In an interview with Variety in January, Lellouche said he read the book and “fell in love with this story” more than 15 years ago, but put it aside because he didn’t feel ready to tackle such a large endeavor. But after his sophomore film “Sink or Swim” proved successful, Lellouche decided to take the leap and was inspired by his desire to make a film about love.
“Filial love, friendship love, irrational love, imaginary love and love in the craziest ways, such as erotomania and jealousy – these are themes that appeal to me, woven together with adolescence, with everything that it stirs, because everything is so intense, it can be exhilarating and extremely violent,” Lellouche said.
“Beating Hearts” also melds different genres. “There’s lots of romance, violence — because every great love story hurts — but also some thriller, music and humor,” he said.
Lellouche has starred in some of France’s most popular films in recent history, including Cedric Jimenez’s “Stronghold,” as well as Jeanne Herry’s “All Your Faces,” Guillaume Canet’s “Little White Lies” and “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom.”
“Beating Hearts” is one of three French-language films competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, along with Agathe Riedinger’s “Wild Diamond” and Christophe Honoré’s “Marcello Mio.”
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