Le Coeur en braille (2016)
Directed by Michel Boujenah

Film Review

The popular actor Michel Boujenah - still best known for his appearance in Coline Serreau's 1985 hit comedy Trois hommes et un couffin - made his directing debut in 2003 with Père et fils (2003), and thirteen years later he is back with his third feature, adapted from a popular children's novel by Pascal Ruter.  Boujenah's susceptibility to slushy sentimentality of the most toe-curling kind was evident in the last film he directed - Trois amis (2007) - so for those expecting another generous helping of saccharine-doused mawkishness Le Coeur en braille certainly doesn't disappoint.  Positively drenched in good intentions, it's the kind of soppy teenage entertainment that most parents desperately wish their adolescent offspring would watch, instead of spending all their free time setting fire to cars and slaughtering armies of rampaging killer zombies on their iPhones.

In a parallel universe where teenage boys and girls did nice and unselfish things all of the time, Boujenah's film would certainly have a ready market.  Unfortunately, in the bitter, cynical, zombie-obsessed world in which it was made, it's hard to see who would be minded to fork out the price of a cinema ticket, let alone give up ninety minutes of their lives, to sit and watch something as breathtakingly crass as this.  Le Coeur en braille looks like a children's drama from the early 1970s, and it's a great pity the technology doesn't yet exist for Michel Boujenah to send it back in time and capitalise on that decade's naivité and abundant lack of good taste.  The core theme of Ruter's novel - the value of tolerance for others - is one that our era badly needs to hear but Boujenah's tame, rosewater approach (which makes Little House on the Prairie look like cutting edge social drama) is unlikely to win the film many fans.  This is a shame because the engaging lead performers - Alix Vaillot and Jean-Stan du Pac - both show considerable promise and have an easy time stealing the focus from their more illustrious co-stars Charles Berling and Pascal Elbé. Michel Boujenah is too nice for his own good.

Film Synopsis

Marie is a teenager with a passion for playing the cello.  As the end of the school year approaches she is looking forward to entering the Conservatoire so that she can fulfil her dream of becoming a world-class musician.  It is to her horror that she finds she is slowly losing her sight, but she is still determined to fulfil her ambition.  Victor is a less gifted student, but Marie takes pity on him and offers to help him improve his school results.  When he discovers that Marie is going blind, Victor mistakenly thinks she is taking advantage of him.  It isn't long before the two youngsters realise they are in love, so they make a pact.  Victor will do everything he can to conceal Marie's condition and help her to pass her entrance exam...