Where the heart is = In place of the heart = A La place du coeur

Bebe and Clim have known each other since they were children. Bebe (Alexandre Ogou) is an eighteen year old black man, who along with his sister, was adopted by a childless white French couple. Clim (Laure Raoust) is the daughter of factory worker, Marianne (Ariane Ascaride) and bricklayer, Joel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin). Framed by a racist cop, the film begins with Bebe in jail for rape and Clim pregnant with his child. The attempts to have the rape charges set aside lead Marianne to undertake a journey to Sarajevo where she confronts the woman who has laid charges against Bebe. Robert Guediguian’s humanist story of love, struggle and family is part of a continuing oeuvre which is both a celebration of working-class Marseilles and a critical examination of the tensions and social conditions created by late-twentieth century economic rationalism. What informs Guediguian, however, is a deep commitment to the familial and communal bonds which tie people together. There is no cynicism or nihilism in his films, even if the subject matter being dealt with - racism, war, unemployment and disenfranchment - may appear initially overwhelming. His is a rare talent indeed: a realist cinema which is attune to the richness and transcendence of everyday human life. “A La place du coeur” is based on James Baldwin’s novel, “If Beale Street could talk”. In French with English subtitles.