Beating Hearts

Beating Hearts follows Clotaire, a defiant teenager who falls for his classmate Jackie. Their romance blooms amid the rough edges of their urban neighborhood, but the allure is complicated by gang violence that drags him into a dangerous underworld. Years pass, driven apart by choice and consequence, with each pursuing different paths that harden them. Yet the pull of their connection never truly fades. When fate conspires to bring them back together, they must confront not only the past but the patterns that drew them in the first place. The film tangoes between tenderness and danger, testing whether love can outlast the scars of a life on the edge. Exarchopoulos and Civil bring a charged chemistry that keeps you guessing.

Directed by Gilles Lellouche, Beating Hearts pairs Adèle Exarchopoulos as Jackie and François Civil as Clotaire in a hard edged romance crime drama. The screenplay credits go to Neville Thompson, Audrey Diwan and Ahmed Hamidi, with a $37.3 million budget.

Worldwide box office totals $36,010,728, roughly recouping its reported $37,315,205 budget. Marketed as a prestige romance, it found audiences across Europe, North America, and a handful of Asian markets, supported by a global marketing push to extend its reach globally.

Critics praise the electric chemistry between Exarchopoulos and Civil as they navigate a romance shadowed by crime. Beating Hearts threads tenderness with danger, exploring fate, cycles of violence, accountability, and whether love can endure when past choices echo through time. The performances anchor the film beyond glossy melodrama, rewarding viewers.

Beating Hearts risks becoming a talking point for how romance can arise from risk and hardship. The on screen dynamic between Jackie and Clotaire, along with Alain Chabat as Jackie's father, offers material for discussions on forgiveness, family ties, and urban despair. It invites debate on redemption and renewal today.