Heart of Slush | The unbearable lightness of adolescence

Do you remember your first love? Your first butterflies? And your first disappointments? Wrap it all up in candy decor, sprinkle in a few well-placed teardrops, and a couple of sips of slush (blue raspberry, what else), and you’ve got yourself a light-hearted, just-sweet enough happy summer flick.

Light, of course, as we can be at 16, when we work on water slides, and our only concern, apart from sunburn, is to finally discover love, or rather not: these famous and legendary butterflies in the lower belly, more precisely. You have understood correctly: when you want at all costs to live your sacrosanct “first time”.

Admittedly, the narrative framework of slush heart, the long-awaited film by Mariloup Wolfe inspired by the novel of the same name (written by Sarah-Maude Beauchesne who signs the screenplay here), is a bit thin. Predictable, we agree. But not skinny either.

In summary: Billie (embodied by a radiant and very fair Liliane Skelly, seen in District 31, which we can only salute this first role in the cinema), a great shallot that is anything but precocious, flashes one day for a local cycling champion. Joseph Delorey (mutants) embodies the character of Pierre Forest, the darling of the hour, with the handsome face and the charming smile of the perfect little heartbreaker… that he is. To spice it up, know that big sister Annette, the perfect (sparkling Camille Felton), has a crush on the same heartthrob. This gives you an idea of ​​the essence of the topo, its giggles and its frenchies clumsy, there is no escaping it.

Special mention to the soundtrack (so essential in a film of the genre) and to the well-felt slow motions (sometimes corny, without being gratuitous), without forgetting the metaphor of water to illustrate the vertigo of love, which give a touch of poetry to the narrative. Fans will also recognize the sensitive and true pen of the author of Window shopping and of Maxim, the next two volumes of the trilogy (at Hurtubise). We also salute the very slick and colorful aesthetics, from the flowered house to the perfect cows in the field, passing by the bright yellow tacot, which gives the story the air of a postcard.

That being said, where the book (a smash hit in bookstores, selling over 30,000 copies) just barely overflowed in the complexity of emotions and intimate reflections on the desire to grow up – a little, a lot, or ultimately not at all –, the film falls into the trap of shortcuts.

Inevitably, the story is suddenly less interesting, the characters too. Although not uninteresting either.

It must be said that the exchanges always ring true, with a hint of feminism and “wokism” here and there well placed. The chemistry between the friends (Salma Serraji and Vivi-Anne Riel) is also contagious. And what about the moral on the importance of friendship, and sisterhood, which we would all be crazy to ignore.

We would be remiss to ignore this famous and long-awaited first time, played here with unprecedented accuracy, daring the plain truth. Basically: forget the chills, let’s say.

A word, finally, on the role of the father, and not the least, played by the very endearing François Létourneau, as clumsy as he is loving, discreet but present. It’s a fact: after all these overly sweet emotions, his wise final word is taken quite well.

Indoors

Drama

slush heart

Mariloup Wolfe

With Liliane Skelly, Camille Felton, Joseph Delorey, François Létourneau, Salma Serraji and Vivi-Anne Riel

1:56

7/10