L' Arnacoeur [Blu-ray]

Director: Pascal Chaumeil, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky

Overview

A man who ruins relationships for a living may have finally found a woman he can't easily manipulate in this French comedy from writer and director Pascal Chaumeil. Alex (Romain Duris) is a handsome man who knows how to make women fall for him, and he's found an unusual way of making money from this talent -- guys who want to break up with their wives or girlfriends but lack the nerve can hire Alex to woo them away, and once the women have given their men the bad news, Alex makes himself scarce. While Alex has built a lucrative cottage industry from this scheme, business has been in a slump, and when he's given an especially difficult assignment, he takes it against his better judgment. Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) and Jonathan (Andrew Lincoln) are both wealthy, attractive, and deeply in love, but a third party wants to stop their upcoming marriage and hires Alex to pose as her bodyguard in Monaco as she arrives a few days before the wedding. However, no matter what Alex does, his efforts backfire and Juliette seems immune to his charm; even worse, the harder he tries, the more he finds himself falling for her. L'Arnacoeur (aka Heartbreaker) was received its North American premiere at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/01/2011
UPC:	0065935842033
Original Release:	2010
Source:	Ais
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	61,532

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Romain Duris	Alex
Vanessa Paradis	Juliette
Julie Ferrier	M?lanie
Fran?ois Damiens	Marc
H?l?na Noguerra	Sophie
Andrew Lincoln	Jonathan
Jacques Frantz	Van Der Becq
Amandine Dewasmes	Florence
Jean-Yves Lafesse	Dutour
Jean-Marie Paris	Goran
Tarek Boudali	Manager of Montecarlo Bay Hotel
Philippe Lacheau	The Companion
Geoffrey Bateman	Juliette's Father-in-Law
Natasha Cashman	Juliette's Mother-in-Law
Franck Massiah	Franck
Hiromi Asai	Japanese Businesswoman
Sophie Jezequel	Office Employee
Audrey Lamy	Policewoman
Dominque Gaffieri	Auctioneer
Elodie Frenck	Alex's Girlfriend
Julien Arruti	Florence's Brother
Camille Figuereos	Curling Player
Nina Melo	Young Gospel Woman
Adina Cartianu	Librarian
Natasha Casheman	Juliette's Mother-in-Law
Klaus Badelt	Composer

Technical Credits

Jeremy Doner

Laurent Zeitoun

Yoann Gromb

Jeremy Doner	Screenwriter
Laurent Zeitoun	Screenwriter,Producer
Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky	Producer
Yann Zenou	Producer
Tatiana Vialle	Casting
Yoann Gromb	Screenwriter

Scene Index

Foreword 5

Preface 8

1 Glorious news! Nap's landed again in France, Hurrah! 15

2 Napoleon has humbugged me, by God! 39

3 The fate of France is in your hands! 61

4 Avancez, mes enfants, courage, encore une fois, Français! 81

5 Ah! Now I've got them, those English! 105

6 A cannon ball came from the Lord knows where and took the head off our right-hand man 133

7 The Big Boots don't like rough stuff! 155

8 Those terrible grey horses, how they fight! 181

9 We had our revenge! Such slaughtering! 207

10 The most beautiful troops in the world 229

11 Defend yourselves! Defend yourselves! They are coming in everywhere! 257

12 Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained 285

Aftermath: A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee 313

Afterword 339

Acknowledgements 343

Bibliography 345

Index 349

Editorial Reviews

04/13/2015
Best known for his historical novels, Cornwell (The Empty Throne) puts years of research to good use for his first nonfiction work, a new look at the events of Waterloo, which is "one of the most studied and written-about battles in history," yet "like all good stories it bears repetition." He injects a human element into a thorough and entertaining account of the battle's overarching military themes by including anecdotes—some funny, some heartfelt—about the participants. For instance, he recounts the story of the Brunswick Black Legion, who infamously ate the canine unofficial mascot of the Irish 95th Rifles. Cornwell notes that "the battles of 16 June and 18 June 1815 make for a magnificent story," confessing that when he wrote Sharpe's Waterloo his "plot almost entirely vanished to be taken over by the great story of the battle itself." Here, his complex overview switches among the perspectives of Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, and other influential figures. Cornwell understands the ebb and flow of action, and his passion for the material keeps the narrative from feeling too dry. Waterloo may be a well-mined topic, but this new presentation is bound to satisfy lovers of military history. Maps & illus. Agent: Toby Eady, Toby Eady Associates. (May)

Publishers Weekly

This master storyteller’s take on events comes highly recommended to those new to the genre and Waterloo aficionados alike.

Soldier Magazine

A real page-turner… in which Cornwell shows real insight into the Waterloo campaign.

BBC History Magazine

Cornwell has found deserved popularity with his Sharpe series of historically accurate novels set in the Napoleonic Wars. For the first time, he turns his gung-ho novelist’s skill to an actual account of the supreme battle of the conflict…. Written with all the excitement of a popular novel.

Literary Review

As you would expect from a writer who is the acknowledged expert on the Napoleonic Wars he is superb on the tiny details as well as on the bigger picture.

Daily Express (London)

Bernard Cornwell’s lively account of Waterloo...is a clear account...Cornwell is a storyteller....for those who want a.... reliable guide to what happened at Waterloo, he has great appeal. His book is also superbly illustrated

New Statesman

Brings a shrewd military historian’s mind to his subject…thrilling to read…Cornwell’s is from start to finish a gripping account, red in tooth and claw. Serve with a robust burgundy.

The Spectator

A lot of historians could learn from Cornwell’s approach. He sets the scene, fleshes out the main characters and lets the story unfold to its dramatic conclusion. An excellent first foray into non-fiction.

Evening Standard (London)

Bernard Cornwell proceeds at a brisk canter and his descriptions of the fighting are as gripping as any in his splendid Sharpe novels.

The Times (London)

The history of the Battle of Waterloo told by a master storyteller.

Shelf Awareness

A great and terrible story told with energy and clarity by a writer who has a deep understanding of men in combat and why they do what they do.

The Economist

Both vivid and scholarly….Readers new to the Waterloo campaign could hope for no better introduction and veterans will find fresh insights.

The Independent

Waterloo is a fabulous story, superbly told….Cornwell cannot be bettered.

Max Hastings

At the end of ‘Waterloo,’ readers will feel that they could command a battalion themselves. With historical accounts like this, who needs novels for excitement?

Wall Street Journal

★ 03/15/2015
As the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo (June 18) draws near, the books appear. These two, by freelance historian Crane (Empires of the Dead; Scott of the Antarctic), and historical fiction writer Cornwell (The Empty Throne; The Pagan Lord) are near -perfect bookends to the event.Drawing on letters and memoirs, Crane paints a varied portrait of Englishmen's preoccupations in that extraordinary age. Not all wished for victory over the usurper; there was still a radical tradition in English politics though it had been largely stifled by repressive war legislation. In assessing England's 20 years of war, Crane explains how the national debt soared to £861 million and poverty abounded. Although England emerged as an undisputed ruler of the world's trade, the chance of desperately needed political reform had been squashed and would not emerge for another two decades. How was it, Crane asks, that a war that had mobilized the citizenry for 20 years left them, at the end, in worse shape than they'd been before? Crane does not slight the battle, but the addition of other narratives results in a richer portrait of what was being thought about at a pivotal moment in history.Cornwell is a respected writer of historical fiction, specializing in narratives of battle. (See his "Sharpe" series about an ordinary infantryman during the Napoleonic Wars.) No one, not even the great military historian John Keegan, describes or explains battle better than Cornwell, and that is one of the signal virtues of this account. There are no new findings, yet Cornwell illustrates so clearly and with such an assured sense of pacing that this messy and confusing set of battles is easier to follow, understand, and thus appreciate. Copious illustrations assist the narrative. VERDICT History buffs will relish both of these works. Readers should also consider Brendan Simms's The Longest Afternoon. [See Prepub Alert, 11/17/14.]—David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Library Journal

2015-02-14
In his first nonfiction book, acclaimed historical novelist Cornwell (The Empty Throne, 2015, etc.) employs his storytelling skills to bring military history out of the textbook.The author writes of the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's loss (as opposed to the Duke of Wellington's victory) in a readable account that only occasionally gets bogged down in tactics and the movements of brigades. Early on, he points out that we must understand the difference between infantry arrayed in either lines or columns since it made a considerable difference in the outcome of the battles fought on those June days in 1815. The Dutch and Germans combined with the British under Wellington; this was not a particularly pleasant circumstance, as Wellington had little faith in their ability or loyalty. He placed them carefully with his most effective fighters and did his best to keep Prince William of the Netherlands, or Slender Billy, from creating the disastrous confusion for which he was known. Two preliminary battles, at Ligny and Quatre-Bras, could have given France success, but miscommunication and outright dithering on the part of Napoleon's commander Michel Ney enabled the opposing forces to fight on. Throughout the battle, there were many instances of generals making their own decisions that affected the outcome—perhaps none more than the Prussian Prince Blücher, who retreated to the north rather than west to maintain his ability to relieve Wellington, thus confounding Napoleon's attempt to split the armies. The French were weakened in an attempt to take Wellington's right flank at Hougoumont, where just over 2,000 Dutch, German, and English soldiers held off 9,000 French infantry. Despite a little confusion regarding the movements of divisions and brigades, this is a fascinating, detailed, and generously illustrated description of the battle that changed the fate of 19th-century Europe.

Kirkus Reviews