Keyra J Don't be fooled by the low rating. Totally loved this film. Very realistic. This is not a Hollywood film with a lot of special effects. So if you are looking for a fairy tale, move on to the next film in queue. The cast is absolutely superb - very real life, all very likable. I loved the three main characters played by Benoit, Charlotte and Chiara. It is hard to dictate whom and how to love, how to fall out of love. And the film is about emotional turmoil involved in chance meetings and close-knit triangles. The ending is open to interpretation. And last, but not least, I totally and completely disagree with other reviewers who mentioned that the cast is sub-par (so far from reality). Great film.

devikamenon Is there such a thing as true love at first sight? This film attempts to follow the course of three people's lives in the exploration of the question, even if there is no answer forthcoming. Is there ever?One night in a small French town, a tax accountant named Marc has missed the last train to Paris and chances upon a woman in a hotel bar. They start talking, rather, he runs after her, and we're told they spend the night wandering around in perfect harmony. No names or numbers or other mundane details are exchanged, although they do promise to meet the next week at a certain location in Paris. This seems to be the only time the two characters actually do something, as in, take a decision. From here on out, life just takes over. The meeting at the Jardin de Toulieres (jaw-droppingly beautiful, what is it with Paris and its gardens) never takes place. Marc is prone to panic attacks, you see. Or was it an actual heart attack? Anyway, the two would-be lovers are thus separated. Thereafter, Marc somehow meets another woman, falls in love, marries. But ah! this new woman, Sophie, unbeknownst to all, is actually the sister of the old one, Sylvie. Ergo, path to destruction has been charted.Read full review at: http://devikamenon.blogspot.com/2016/06/french- movie-friday-3-coeurs.html

MartinHafer A man misses his train and as a result he meets a lady. They spend the night together (you aren't sure if they had sex...this is a bit vague) and before he leaves the next morning to go home, they agree to meet...but they don't know each other's names. He is late for the meeting (because he's an idiot) and she eventually leaves--and normally this would be the end of that. However, some time passes and the same man ends up meeting another woman. They fall in love and marry...and it turns out she's the sister of the woman at the beginning of the film. Talk about awkward family reunions!When the new husband sees his sister-in-law later, they naturally recognize each other but neither says anything. Several years pass and there still is an unspoken awkwardness between the man and his sister-in-law. Out of the blue, however, they begin an affair. Not surprisingly, this isn't a particularly good idea and things get complicated--though by the end of the film, you get the idea everything will inexplicably work out fine!One thing I appreciated in this film as well as in many French films is that the folks in the movie are NOT Hollywood beauties nor even close to it. They seem very ordinary and are middle-aged and this makes the film seem a bit more real. This being said, however, the story is very contrived. After all, what are the odds of any of this happening?! The coincidence that the woman he marries is the sister of the woman at the beginning of the film? That he would end up being late just like in "An Affair to Remember" (minus the auto accident). That the two at the beginning of the film would later become lovers...especially since they never really talked between then and the beginning of the movie? And, ultimately, that the mother-in-law would somehow guess exactly what is happening--despite there really being no evidence of this affair. All of this seems a bit far-fetched. Additionally, it was very difficult to empathize with the characters who had the affair--they just seemed like selfish jerks. Because of all these difficulties with the script, I still give the film a 5--simply because the acting is very good though the story left a bit to be desired.

Turfseer Like a number of "typically" French films I see, Benoit Jacquot's "3 Hearts," is no different. When questioned after watching such films, I invariably remark, "that was very French!" While I realize that stereotyping is not a very admirable pursuit, I still must argue that there is a certain percentage of French people (don't ask me what the percentage is)whom continue to embrace the apparent national pastime—and that of course is the pursuit of "passion." Every few minutes we're reminded (through its galling overuse of a few measures of its repetitious soundtrack) that the film is supposed to be some kind of thriller. The main character is Marc, a government tax inspector, who occasionally must take the train to provincial towns near Paris, to perform audits. One night, after missing his train, he meets on the streets, Sylvie, an attractive woman trapped in an unhappy marriage. Perhaps it's their mutual love for nicotine or simply an unconscious recognition that they're both lonely hearts, that the two make such an immediate connection.Unfortunately, after they agree to meet at a park in Paris the next day, Marc has a panic attack and gets there two hours late, a few minutes after Sylvie has left. Sylvie ends up agreeing to go with her husband to Minneapolis but the story hasn't ended. Through the greatest of coincidences, Marc runs into Sylvie's sister, Sophie, who's having trouble with the books to the family antique business. Just like Sylvie, I found it difficult to understand why the sister now falls for the nondescript Marc. Funny how Marc doesn't look at the top of the stairs on the walls at Sophie and Sylvie's house since he would have easily deducted that Sophie was Sylvie's sister. It's only after an engagement that he stumbles on Sophie's computer where he comes face to face with Sylvie, who is trying to connect with her sister, via a Skype session.The rest of the tedious "3 Hearts" depicts the arrival of Sylvie for Marc and Sophie's wedding. Wouldn't you know it, but Marc and Sylvie end up hooking up for some passionate goings on. But that's all you get: passion…and nothing else. Not one iota of character development involving any of the principals. Director Jacquot is simply content to smugly ask for gold stars due to the intensity of Marc and Sylvie's desire to copulate like enraptured bunny rabbits in heat. And to emphasize how "passionate" these neurotic lovers are, instead of going back to his wife and child, Marc walks off into the sunset with Sylvie!I forgot to mention there is a sub-plot: Marc discovers that the mayor of the provincial town he's been auditing has been cooking the books. There is some indication that the powerful man may try and retaliate against Marc, but he doesn't seem to care (due to his obsession with Sylvie). The sub-plot goes nowhere when the whole issue of the Mayor's criminality, never resolved."3 Hearts" keeps your interest only insofar as to how the love triangle will resolve. When we find out next to nothing about Marc and Sylvie after they resume their passionate canoodling, one realizes that only the most passionate of Francophiles will find this "passionfest" something quite compelling. For others such as myself, the pursuit of passion as only a means to an end, is no substitute for true intellectual enlightenment.