3 Hearts (3 Coeurs)

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Benoit Jacquot/Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve and Benoit Poelvoorde

You know you're watching a French film when a middle-age man initiates a conversation with an unhappy but beautiful middle-age woman, then after walking and talking all night, agrees to meet her a week later in a Parisian park, only to arrive late to the meeting, thus missing what might have been. We know instinctively, from our experiences watching French cinema, that the thwarted assignation will have powerful ramifications. But I'm not being dismissive of what the French do so well; I'm actually praising the French for excelling in telling stories that are both intimate and riveting. In Benoit Jacquot's 3 Hearts, we have both qualities in abundance.

Benoit Poelvoorde stars as Marc Beaulieu, a Parisian tax auditor who finds himself in a small French town for the night. Out late in the deserted streets, he meets a woman, Sylvie Berger (the beautiful Charlotte Gainsbourg) walking alone. He asks her for directions to a hotel as a pretext for conversation. The pair end up spending a romantic evening strolling, until dawn arrives. Mutually enchanted, they agree to meet in Paris the following week. But though Sylvie is punctual, Marc is held up in traffic and arrives too late. Dejected, Sylvie walks away sadly while Marc, staring at an empty park chair, thinks about his stifled opportunity.

In another scene, we see Sylvie bidding on antiques at an auction. She wins a beautiful but expensive mirror for the family antique store, in which her sister Sophie (Chiara Mastroianni) acts as proprietress. Shortly after, as her heart-broken sister leaves for America, Sophie tends to the store's financial troubles, which are many and dire.

After having sought advice on the store's troubled finances in the town tax office, Sophie stands in a corridor, overcome with anxiety and tears. Marc, who happens to be serving in the offices on an out-of-Paris assignment, happens to notice Sophie sobbing and stops to offer an ear and some sympathy. Wanting to help and maybe get to know Sophie, he agrees to help her with her books. After fixing a potentially pernicious problem, a romance burgeons and before long, Sophie finds herself leaving her boyfriend for Marc. A courtship follows in which Marc meets Sophie's mother, Madame Berger (Catherine Deneuve, Mastroianni's real-life mother). And while the happy couple's relationship hastens toward marriage, Sophie shares her joy with Sylvie via Skype while Marc just narrowly misses being seen onscreen.

The audience may know where this is will lead and although the plot seems a tad bit gimmicky, Director Benoit Jacquot doesn't let the story become a silly contrivance. As Sophie and Marc make wedding arrangements, the audience dreads the imminent moment when Sylvie will learn Marc is to be her brother-in-law. Having seen Sylvie's picture on Madame Berger's wall, Marc is well aware of his predicament. And before the wedding commences, Sylvie finally learns of the groom's identity when she accidentally sees him on another Skype call. Her reaction is powerful and the scene wrenching.

A subplot involving the Mayor of the town who, after presiding at Marc and Sophie's wedding, is the subject of one of Marc's audits, which reveals illicit irregularities. Marc's refusal to help someone so close to the Berger family betrays a hypocritical devotion to his own mercurial principles, which he was quick to overlook when re-auditing Sophie's records.

When Sylvie arrives for the wedding reception, the tension is almost overpowering.

The suspense is heightened further as we wonder if Sophie will learn of Sylvie and Marc's past and whether the revelation could destroy the marriage. Jacquot, like many excellent French directors, knows how to make a relationship drama burn. He keeps the roiling pace steady but it helps to have an exceptional cast at the call. Gainsbourg is a fascinating actress. She can project vulnerability and coiled rage at the same time. Mastroianni is no less intriguing while I wish Deneuve had had more to do. Poolvoorde is another physical contradiction; he has a buffoon's face one moment, a thoughtful and compassionate mien the next; an appropriate contrast for someone who has gotten himself--inadvertently--into a tangled mess.

When the situation becomes nearly unbearable, Jacquot wisely keeps the outcome as messy and unresolved as the triangle itself. The final scene shows us an affective what if scenario; something neat, tidy and romantic to play against the Gordian knot strangling Marc, Sophie and Sylvie.

I was drawn into the story. A few scenes made me squirm and I couldn't help but be moved by the idea that a failed rendezvous could bring about so much misfortune for three people. Is the film a singular achievement? No, but it sears nevertheless. One may feel the story relies too much on a hard to swallow Macguffin, to wit; the coincidental meeting of Marc and Sophie but one need not slavishly adhere to the strict demands of reality to be carried along by the story.

It seems so little French cinema crosses the oceanic divide these days, so seeing Jacquot's drama is a bit of a relief. I hope more are forthcoming; American films are quite toxic this time of year.