Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Heartbreaker Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 3, 2011

Gallic director Pascal Chaumeil’s "L’arnacoeur" a.k.a "Heartbreaker" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Revolver Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include deleted scenes; outtakes; making of featrette; various cast and crew interviews; the film's original theatrical trailer; and more. In French, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Enjoying the view?

Alex Lippi (Romain Duris, Deja mort, De battre mon coeur s'est arrete) is a professional heartbreaker - for the right amount of money, he helps people get out of relationships that are not good for them. He is assisted by his sister, Mélanie (Julie Ferrier, Micmacs), and her husband, Marc (François Damiens, Les hauts murs).

A wealthy French businessman (Jacques Frantz, Asylum ) hires Alex to break up his daughter’s (Vanessa Paradis, La fille sur le pont, Mon ange) marriage to an even wealthier but boring young Brit (Andrew Lincoln, Scenes of a Sexual Nature) closely monitored by his pretentious family. Shortly after, a tough goon warns Alex that if he does not pay back what he owes him his Serbian gorilla will start breaking things - and it is quite possible that one of these things will be Alex’s neck.

And so a week before her wedding, Juliette goes on a shopping spree in Monaco, where Alex introduces himself as her personal bodyguard. She immediately phones her father to let him know that she does need one – which is precisely when someone (Alex’s sister) jacks her car. Alex goes after the thief and earns Juliette’s respect.

Step two is earning her heart.

Naturally, Juliette is soon surprised to discover that, like her, Alex also adores George Michael. His favorite film is also Dirty Dancing. He is also the only man she has ever met who likes eating big chunks of Roquefort for breakfast.

Juliette’s best friend, and needy nymphomaniac, Sophie (former model Helena Noguerra, La boite noire, Dans Paris) shows up and immediately declares that she will have Alex. Much to her surprise, however, he rejects her - and thus impresses Juliette even more. Totally confused by the signals her heart is sending to her mind, Juliette allows Alex to take her out for a dinner.

Pascal Chaumeil’s L’arnacoeur a.k.a Heartbreaker mixes a large dose of humor with an even larger dose of romance. The result is a light and unpretentious film that should appeal to a broad range of viewers, even those who might still be recovering from celebrating the arrival of the new year (hint: the narrative is that transparent).

Though shot on locations throughout beautiful Monte Carlo, France and Morocco, Heartbreaker has a distinctively American flavor. The main protagonists fall for endless cheap tricks - typically seen in similarly themed Hollywood-produced romantic films - and extol the important virtues of Dirty Dancing. At one point, they even get on the dancing floor to imitate the film’s famous climax. Needless to say, the finale is predictable but sweet.

Duris is very good as the cocky heartbreaker who gets a dose of his own medicine when he arrives in Monte Carlo. Paradis is also fun to watch while trying to figure out whether to follow her heart or the man she has already agreed to marry. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the best scenes in the film are with the sultry Noguerra, who plays the nymphomaniac girlfriend to perfection.

Note: Last year, Heartbreaker won Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (Romain Duris).

Heartbreaker Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Pascal Chaumeil's Heartbreaker arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Revolver Entertainment.

This is a strong high-definition transfer. Fine object detail is very good, clarity pleasing, and contrast levels consistent throughout the entire film. The color-scheme is just as impressive; the various yellows, blues, greens, browns, grays, and blacks look rich and well saturated but also natural. The panoramic vistas from Monte Carlo, and in particular the footage with the Ferrari, look absolutely fantastic. The close-ups are also quite pleasing, though during the final third of the film I noticed a few random soft spots popping up here and there. I also spotted mild edge-enhancement creeping in during the desert footage, and later on during the wedding ceremony. Overall, however, the image has very good organic qualities. For the the record, I did not see any annoying flecks, scratches, stains, or damage marks to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. Please note that there are a couple of PAL commercials preceding the disc's main menu. None of them, however, are forced, thus you will be able to skip them without a problem).

Heartbreaker Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with small portions of English). For the record, Revolver Entertainment have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature. They appear inside the image frame.

The French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is very strong. The bass and rear channels are not overly active but there is a good range of nuanced dynamics that give the film quite a bit of flavor. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. There are no balance issues with Klaus Badelt's soundtrack either. Lastly, I did not detect any pops, cracks, hissings, or audio dropouts to report in this review.

Heartbreaker Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc are encoded in PAL. Therefore, if you reside in North America, or another region where PAL is not supported, you must have a Region-Free player capable of converting PAL to NTSC or a native Region-B player and a TV set capable of processing PAL-encoded data in order to access them.

• Outtakes - a collection of hilarious outtakes. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (4 min, PAL).

• Deleted Scenes - another collection of deleted scenes, some of which are also rather hilarious. In French and Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (8 min, PAL).

• Making of - a standard featurette, courtesy of Quad Films, with raw footage from the shooting of Heartbreaker. The featurette also contains comments from Pascal Chaumeil and various cast and crew members. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (30 min, PAL).

• Trailer - the original UK theatrical trailer for Heartbreaker. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, PAL).

• Romain Duris - An Ace - a look at some of the stunts the French actor performed during the shooting of Heartbreaker. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, PAL).

• Glamour Always - Pascal Chaumeil and the cast discuss the various characters in Heartbreaker. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min, PAL).

• They Will Stop at Nothing - a look at some of the more provocative scenes in Heartbreaker. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min, PAL).

• Dancing Kings - a look at the dancing scenes in Heartbreaker. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, PAL).

• Romain Duris Interview - the French actor discusses the character he plays and some of the personal adjustments he had to make while shooting Heartbreaker. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min, PAL).

• Vanessa Paradis Interview - Vanessa Paradis discusses her character and why she agreed to contribute to Heartbreaker. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (4 min, PAL).

Heartbreaker Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pascal Chaumeil's Heartbreaker is the perfect film to see on a lazy Sunday afternoon - it is charming and unpretentious. I enjoyed it quite a lot. Perhaps because for a couple of hours the footage from sunny Monte Carlo made me forget the cold and gray winter. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Revolver Entertainment, looks and sounds very good. It is also Region-Free. RECOMMENDED.