So this is one movie I actually enjoyed, and see ehn, I saw it right in the middle of my exam reading, which should tell you how much I needed a break from all those textbooks, so I watched Your Heart Will Be Broken yesterday even, immediately I got back from school, and see funny enough, it ended up being the exact thing that put me to sleep early last night and not because it was boring, please don't get it twisted, but because something about it just calmed my spirit down after a long day of cramming, and honestly, as you might already suspect by now, I am a certified sucker for love stories,see here give me two people pretending not to feel something they clearly feel, and I am there, fully invested, exams or no exams.
The story follows Polina, a new student who walks straight into bullying at her new school, this is the kind of situation that could easily break someone's spirit, but instead of just enduring it quietly, she strikes a deal with Bars, the school's resident bully, the guy that everybody fears, so the arrangement here is simple on paper, he will pretends to be her boyfriend, and uses that reputation to protect her from the harassment, and in exchange, she has to do whatever he says, now, if you know anything about how these stories go, you already know this Fake relationship for protection setup never stays fake for long.
And true to form, that's exactly what happens, what starts as a strategic arrangement slowly turns into something neither of them planned for, real feelings start creeping in, the kind that neither Polina nor Bars can fully explain or control, I love this trope, I am not going to lie, there is just something about watching two people who started off pretending, only to realize somewhere along the line that the pretending stopped a long time ago, that gets me every single time, It is not even original, I know, but some stories don't need to be original to work, they just need to be told well, and this one manages that.
Of course, because this is a love story and love stories love obstacles, outside forces show up to complicate things for them, Her family isn't exactly thrilled about this arrangement, and her classmates have their own reasons for wanting to make the two apart, so now wtching the two of them try to hold on to whatever they have built while everyone around them pulls in different directions gave the film enough tension to keep me watching instead of dozing off immediately, even with how tired I was.
What I appreciated most is that the film doesn't rush the emotiinal part, It lets the relationship develop in small moments instead of jumping straight into big declarations, which made the whole thing feel a little more believable, even within the fake dating premise and by the time things start unraveling because of the people trying to separate them, you are actually rooting for Polina and Bars to figure it out, not just watching passively.
It is not a groundbreaking film, no not even close, It follows this pattern that we've all seen a hundred times in one form or another, but sometimes you don't need groundbreaking, you just need something warm enough to hold your attention after a long day of reading for exams, something that lets your heart soften a little before you finally shut your eyes , and that is exactly what this one did for me.
Rating: 90/100