Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoueur)

Director: Pascal Chaumeil
Writer: Laurent Zeitoun, Jeremy Doner
Cast: Vanessa Paradis, Romain Duris, Andrew Lincoln, François Damiens, Héléna Noguerra, Olivier Schneider, Julie Ferrier, Jacques Frantz, Jean-Yves Lafesse

Running Time: 105 min

L'Arnacouer (English title: 'Heartbreaker') is a French romantic comedy about a team of three confidence tricksters operating in the unusual activity of breaking up couples.

Their main man grifter, Alex (Romain Duris), seduces the relevant women, in the process assisting them to finally see how unhappy they actually are in their relationships with philanderers and brutes. His sister, Melanie, acts as the team's manager and her wacky and dishevelled husband of 15 years, Marc, as the high-tech support. While their reputation as the best in the break-up business precedes them, things start to go wrong when Alex takes a job which is totally against his ethical principles: breaking up a couple when they are truly happy. Crushed by the pressures of heavy financial debt, he reluctantly consents to be hired by a rich father to break up his daughter Juliette's (Vanessa Paradis) engagement to 'Mr. Perfect' a wealthy, handsome, generous, and completely smitten Englishman (Andrew Lincoln, This Life/Love Actually in case you're scratching your head with utterances of "where do I know him from?"). Eventually Alex is stumped, as he can find no fault with Juliette's fiancée . Juliette herself is just not falling for his usual tricks, with the additional problem that he unexpectedly falls in love with her.

Very well received by audiences and critics alike, the film is witty and hilarious, hailed already as the romantic comedy of the year - at least by the French. The comedy is spiced up by Juliett's penchant for George Michael songs and Dirty Dancing choreography. Of course, on the romantic count, being filmed on location glorious Monte Carlo doesn't hurt at all.

Klause Badelt's score is a mixture of romance and comedy, as the composer clearly takes his romance seriously, with heartfelt poetry and yearning. The love theme is a delicate and vulnerable piano motif that perfectly represents wondrous admiration and quiet lovesickness. L'Arancoeur (literally, 'the con of the heart') is a delightful albeit lightweight piece - but extremely enjoyable romcom fare.