The human heart… It can ache. It can be poured out. It can flutter madly and even break. Whether the problem is physical or psychological, a troubled heart needs attention. So just how bad is it, Doc? Director Philippe Lesage points his lens at Montreal’s Hôtel-Dieu hospital for a sobering assessment of some of society’s most devastating ailments: solitude, psychological distress, social conflicts, run-down bodies and minds that have reached their wits’ end. Deliberately paced, the film follows a variety of events as they unfold around the hospital. Set to a thoroughly captivating soundtrack, The Heart That Beats gives illness a human face while it examines the depths of our suffering.
(Translated text by Sophie Godin, RIDM 2010/ www.ridm.qc.ca)