«The Heart in Braille» or the Failure of This End-of-Year Season

Marie (played by Alix Vaillot) is a young girl with an eye condition that is causing her to gradually lose her sight. Victor (played by Jean-Stan du Pac), a classmate, is in love with her, even though it takes him a while to admit it. He doesn’t have any vision problems—instead, he struggles with his inability to get good grades. A friendship—and eventually a romance—develops between Victor and Marie, as she tutors him and he helps her hide her condition so she can participate in the competition she’s been dreaming of: a cello audition.

The story promises to be gripping—it’s based on a novel, after all. Yet the film, which hit theaters today, has so many flaws that it’s heartbreaking. The direction is a failure—that’s one point everyone can agree on. Le Monde, Télérama and most other media outlets, in addition to Le Regard Libre.

First of all, the film portrays overly exaggerated conflicts: a rich, intelligent young woman falls in love with a poor, good-for-nothing guy. Michel Boujenah’s film also focuses too much on children and their innocence. All the adults—except perhaps the ophthalmologist—come across as uninteresting people who don’t understand «real life»: music and love. Marie’s father, played by Charles Berling, embodies the archetype of these foolish adults. Despite these questionable artistic choices, the film could have met the expectations of contemporary moviegoers…

Yes, but… Whether we look at the screenplay or the music, whether we consider the film’s dramatic structure or the actors’ performances, we have to admit that we’re dealing with sheer blandness. The melodies? Sycophantic, not sweet. The dialogue? Simplistic, not simple. The acting? Over-the-top, not outstanding. Everything seems to converge into a sort of self-satisfaction within French dramedy, as if the genre were self-sufficient and never needed to question itself.

This result is disappointing for the simple reason that the themes addressed—progressive blindness, friendship, first love—are highly compelling subjects that lend themselves to a thousand and one artistic approaches. Instead of exploring, for example, the relationship between blindness and music, the film is full of clichés such as: «You can tell a woman is in love by the look in her eyes.» However, the very end redeems what could still be saved: The heart in braille has a final scene—a real one—that’s moving and really hits you in the gut. Overall, though, the movie is best avoided.

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