Heartbreaker (2010 Film)

''Heartbreaker'' () is a 2010 romantic comedy film directed by Pascal Chaumeil (in his feature directorial debut) and starring Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier and François Damiens.

Plot

Charming and attractive Alex, his sister Mélanie and her husband Marc operate a unique business for concerned third-party clients—breaking up relationships, but only those in which the woman is "unhappy without realising it", often at the request of a family member or close friend. The trio concoct elaborate, custom and sometimes expensive ruses to deceive the women. After each woman has fallen for his act, Alex tells her she has made him come alive again, but that it is too late for him. The women presumably leave their relationships to seek men who make them feel the way Alex has.

They are hired by a wealthy man, who is a florist and gangster, to prevent the upcoming wedding of his daughter Juliette to Jonathan, a wealthy Englishman of whom he disapproves. However, they only have ten days to do so before the wedding. After the trio conduct an extensive research, it becomes apparent that the couple are truly in love and absolutely perfect for each other, further complicating the task. They also could not find the usual "flaws" in the couple that they use to cause break-ups. Alex initially turns down the job, but massively in debt to a loan shark through his own lavish spending on the business, he is pressured into putting aside his honourable principles to complete the seemingly impossible task with only five days until the wedding.

When Juliette flies to Monte Carlo to prepare for the wedding, Alex poses as her bodyguard in order to gain close and constant access to her, with the trio bugging her hotel room and checking into the adjoining room. While on the job, Alex discovers things that Juliette likes and pretends to like these things as well to impress her, including the film ''Dirty Dancing'', Roquefort cheese and the music of George Michael. The two eventually develop feelings for each other, but the early arrival of Jonathan disrupts Alex's access to Juliette. The night before the wedding, Juliette is restless, so she and Alex sneak out and have a fun night out, including recreating the final dance scene from ''Dirty Dancing''. Early the next morning, Juliette confesses her feelings for him. Alex begins his usual script, but realising he cannot be with her after how he has deceived her, abruptly changes it and says she should get married.

The next day, as the group leave the hotel, Marc inadvertently drops Juliette's case file in front of her. Seeing the surveillance photos and her background information, she realises her father has hired Alex to try to stop the wedding. At the airport, Mélanie, after carefully observing the events of the past few days, chides Alex for walking away from real love to return to an empty life of fake, short-lived affairs. He runs towards the wedding from the airport.

Meanwhile, Juliette's father tells her that while Jonathan is a decent man, she will be bored with him. As they are walking down the aisle, he tells her that Alex refused to take any payment for the contract. Before reaching the end of the aisle, Juliette turns around and flees the ceremony to find Alex. The two reunite and kiss after Alex confesses that he hates Roquefort and George Michael and had never seen ''Dirty Dancing'', is broke and sleeps in his office, but he needs to see her every day.

Back at the "non-wedding", it is revealed that the loan shark to whom Alex owes money actually works for Juliette's father, while Juliette's scheming friend Sophie flirts with Jonathan. Later, Mélanie and Marc alone attempt another ruse, but Marc lacks Alex's charm to pull it off successfully.

Cast

Production

Principal photography began on 5 June 2009 with a week in Morocco, before relocating to Monaco for four weeks, and wrapped on 5 August after three weeks in Paris. Monaco locations included the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort and Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and Paris locations included the Place des Victoires and the Hôtel Drouot. Interior scenes were shot at a studio in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine. The scene where Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis recreate the final dance sequence from ''Dirty Dancing'' was filmed at Chez Gégène, a guinguette in Joinville-le-Pont. Filming also took place at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport

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