En plein coeur (1998)

En plein coeur is a French romantic film drama first released in 1998, directed by Pierre Jolivet.  The film is based on a novel by Georges Simenon and stars Gérard Lanvin, Virginie Ledoyen, Carole Bouquet, Guillaume Canet and Aurélie Vérillon.  It has also been released under the title: In All Innocence.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Desperate to find the money to pay their rent, two adolescent girls Cécile and Samira attempt to hold up a jeweller’s, but it all goes wrong.  Samira is arrested and Cécile turns to a lawyer Michel Farnèse to defend her, having found his business card in a wallet she stole earlier. Michel agrees to defend the two girls in court, but his wife Viviane suspects that his motivations are more to do with lust than charity.  Sure enough, when Michel wins the case, he begins a passionate affair with Cécile.  However, Cécile’s former boyfriend Vincent is none too keen on this development and is determined to win her back…

The idea of a wealthy middle-aged man abandoning his wife and home for a much younger woman in a doomed romance is hardly virgin territory, but once in a while a film is made which seems to re-invent the formula with astonishing freshness and impact.  En plein coeur is one such film.  It is a film which engages the spectator from the very first scene and careers along at a fair pace, never letting up the intensity of the drama for a second.

The film is based on a popular novel, En cas de malheur, by French writer Georges Simenon, best known for his detective fiction (including the Maigret series).  The novel was first made into a film in 1958 by director Claude Autant-Lara, a film which saw the remarkable (and scarcely believable) pairing of Jean Gabin and Brigitte Bardot.

Forty years on, the story has lost none of its impact and flair, although Pierre Jolivet makes the youth culture more visible in his film to emphasise the difference between the two worlds inhabited by the wealthy lawyer Farnèse and the penniless loser Cécile.

The film is brilliantly assembled as a frenzied psychological thriller.  All the way through, the audience is aware of a sense of impending doom, which adds a hopeless tragic dimension to the love affair.  The drama in the last twenty minutes is palpable, with a whole spectrum of human emotions brilliantly captured on film.

The acting performances are, almost without exception, genuinely impressive, and it is this which gives the film its impact and credibility.  The casting is near-faultless. Virginie Ledoyen is the lively but vulnerable kid unable to choose between not just her two lovers, but also the two worlds they offer her. Gérard Lanvin plays the middle-aged lawyer who rediscovers youthful love and is unable to resist it, even though he may lose everything as a result.  Carole Boquet is stunning as Lanvin’s cheated wife, conveying moods ranging from blind incomprehension to venomous fury with equal conviction.  Then there is Guillaume Canet who plays Cécile’s shady ex-boyfriend, providing a genuine sense of danger and menace without really appearing the villain of the piece.

The film is perhaps a little tainted by its somewhat dated portrayal of love and infidelity, relevant in Simenon’s day, but less acceptable to today’s more sophisticated cinema audience.   Rather than tackle that potential fault head-on, you feel that Jolivet is using his impressive cinematography to paper over the cracks.  Look too closely, and the film may just fail to convince.  However, viewed from an acceptable distance, it impresses as a compelling, vibrant and entertaining piece of cinema.

© James Travers 2000

See also:  En cas de malheur Having long resisted purchasing this movie, I was greatly rewarded by an excellent storyline and top notch performances from all of the actors involved.  I echo the sentiments in Monsieur Travers’ review and will not restate what has been greatly reviewed.  What impressed me most about the film is the presence of Gérard Lanvin who portrays the lusty rich attorney who cannot resist the obviously attainable "goods".  Another compelling reason to watch this film is the femme fatale, Carol Bouquet, whose presence breezes like perfumed fresh air.  She is a really good actress.  As the wronged wife, she senses mischief from the start.  Once the lawyer is hooked by the bait, an unwanted, annoying and relentless danger lurks around him and he is forced to eventually face the situation he has created.  The supporting actress Virginie Ledoyen also gives an excellent performance.  She is like a cat which is given a choice between a glass of milk and a plate of roast beef, and is not sure which one to take, yet her character craves both "items".   To me the issue of infidelity remains the same no matter how old the movie is – i.e. it can happen the same way anytime, anywhere and this film relates to these circumstances well.  My DVD was bought from Amazon.co.uk, has 2.0 stereo, anamorphic, excellent picture and sound. A great movie that deserves repeated viewings.  A solid three stars.

© Thanda Makhathini (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) 

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