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"... A poetic and upbeat celebration of the quiet beauty in unremarkable lives... wonderfully shot and edited with a vivid sense of place and an immensely appealing cast, A la Place du Coeur is a touching portrait of the different kinds of love that bind its characters."—Screen International
"A warmly textured slice of humanist cinema... A look at an average blue-collar family through the prism of a daughter's love affair with a black man, it shows Guediguian still reaching into new territory stylistically." —Derek Elley, Variety
Sixteen year old narrator Clim, short for Clementine, introduces us to her lover Bebe. He is in jail on a trumped up rape charge, the victim of a racist cop, when Clim reveals that she is pregnant. After a flashback to sketch out how the two, friends as kids, became involved, the film expands to embrace the families of both. As Clim's pregnancy advances, the film moves between past and present, filling out the story and poking around in interesting corners.
Robert Guediguian is one of the most respected filmmakers working in France today. As his international profile continues to expand, audiences are beginning lo appreciate his body of work as amongst some of the finest films made in the past quarter century. Winner of the San Sebastian Film Festival's Special Jury Prize, A la Place du Coeur is a warm and subtle exploration of everyday lives done with immense compassion.