The hearts of men

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The hearts of men
Original title Le coeur des hommes
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 2003
length 105 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Marc Esposito
script Marc Esposito
production Pierre Javaux
music Béatrice Thiriet
camera Pascal Caubère
cut Benoît Alavoine ,
Christian Dior
occupation

The hearts of men is the directorial debut by Frenchman Marc Esposito from 2003.

action

Alex, Jeff, Manu and Antoine are friends from their soccer days together 25 years ago. They are now financially and professionally successful, but have also had various failures in their relationships with women. Jeff separated from his wife 15 years ago after she had an abortion and is now in a relationship with a young student who is half his age. Alex, who publishes a sports newspaper with Jeff, has various relationships that his wife may not know about, but can guess. Manu's last relationship also failed years ago. Only Antoine has an exemplary marriage.

The death of Manu's father marks the beginning of a spring in which all four have to rethink their previous lives, in which they had settled down comfortably. Antoine's wife admits that she had a one-off affair. Although she protests that he still loves him dearly, he can no longer live with her and leaves her. The quiet Manu gets to know a rather freaky woman and begins to develop feelings in the relationship that were believed to be forgotten. Alex gets tired of his affair with a friend and ends it. He grapples with his wife without, of course, wanting to forego the little fling in the office. Jeff, who still refuses to speak to his wife, slowly begins to approach them again after their daughter's wedding. At the same time he decides to sell his shares in the company to Alex and to retire from professional life. He buys a piece of land in the country where he is moving with his girlfriend. When the friends meet there in the summer, Antoine's wife shows up and finally there is a reconciliation.

background

Gérard Darmon and Marc Lavoine had already appeared together in a film in 2002, but did not appear together in Neil Jordan's The Good Thief .

criticism

“The Hearts of Men is one of those French feel-good movies that you simply have to leave the cinema in a good mood after viewing it. … Marc Esposito has made a humorous debut film that can really only come from France. The film is supported by the excellent play of its main characters. You just can't help but find the quartet, despite its quirks, as sympathetic. "(Kinozeit.de)

Rolf-Ruediger Hamacher praises the actors who were previously only allowed to play supporting roles, but who really show off here: “Although the focus is on friends, Esposito doesn't let women degenerate into cue-givers. On the contrary: you and your strengths ultimately make men realize that love is the most important thing in life. [...] The look into the hearts of men is a grown-up one, touched in its sad and melancholy moments, without being sentimental, and makes one smile at their inadequacies without malicious glee. "(Film-dienst 08/2004)

Awards

Marc Esposito received a nomination at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2003 for the Grand Prix des Ameriques, Marc Lavoine in 2004 for the César for Best Supporting Actor .

Web links