Arctic Heart (2016) User Reviews

Weird Science.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 22 April 2018]

After spending the day watching films from three excellent French New Wave directors,I decided that I would wrap up my French movie viewing day with something completely different. Eyeing Netflix UK's limited French selection, I found a unique-sounding title which led to me putting my heart in the Arctic.

View on the film:

Moving from shorts to feature films for the first time, writer/director Marie Madinier displays an impressive level of ambition, but an awkwardness in the execution. Starting with scientists looking at mice have sex,the screenplay by Madinier struggles to find a consist tone, via a tender Indie Drama exchange between Christophine and Quignard, (played by a sweet Charlotte Le Bon & Guillaume Canet) being undermined by the very next scene hitting a sex Comedy gag. Frosting the screen up with Claude Miller's former cameraman Pascal Marti ,Madinier appears more sure-footed in the directing style,with the human sex scenes having a breezy mood,and a tasteful use of CGI warming the Arctic heart.

A Bit of an Arctic Carry On

[richard-fieldhouse · 6/10 · 11 October 2019]

The film starts with the arrival of a mysterious box (via UPS) at a French research establishment. It's opened to reveal a baby penguin - except that after a few seconds it's clear that it's actually animatronic. To enjoy this film properly, you will have to be able to ignore this and a few other fairly low budget special effects together with some pretty unlikely science and a general disregard for the rules around animal experimentation.

The new penguin is being used, it turns out, to harvest something call PPM which confers remarkable immunity to the birds. It's the dream of the institute's much revered founder to carry this immunity across, first to mice, and then to humans. His besotted lab assistant, Christophine, played by Charlotte Le Bon is there to help him in any way she possibly can.

All that's needed now is the suspicion that the PPM needs to be "activated" by vigorous one-on-one coupling, and the stage is set for some serious action very much reminiscent of the old school British Carry On comedies. Laboratory mice, unaccountably unwilling to test out activating the PPM, are encouraged using "the hormone" which is sprayed liberally around the institute from what look like deodorant cans - with the inevitable results...

The repressed Professor Quignard, head of the institute, is played by Guillaume Canet, generally playing it pretty straight. But this is the part that would have been taken by Kenneth Williams. It's hard not to imagine him hamming it up as he would have done, in his own particular way.

In some parts, though, this film is naturalistic, the acting is good and there is a little depth to some of the characters. It's a bit more than just a Carry On in French. 6/10.

Well, well...

[moraanex · 4/10 · 3 November 2020]

Don't take it too serious and you might enjoy it. Not my kind of humour but I am sure it will make some people happy, it is fresh and weird at the same time.

Dumbest movie I watched

[pangarkarpiyush · 1/10 · 31 January 2020]

Even if I somehow digest the fact that someone could come up with such a stupid story, I still fail to understand why this movie is named Arctic hearts. The movie is related to Penguins. Director could have at least thought of naming the movie Antarctic hearts.

Weird journey

[przangie · 5/10 · 30 January 2022]

The premise of the movie was weird and I honestly didn't know what to expect as I was watching it, it just gets weirder and weirder, it has some comedy and some strange and uncomfortable moments but all in all don't take it too seriously so you can enjoy it...on a last note Siegfried was the man....

Boring

[littlestyx · 3/10 · 7 January 2019]

I watched 30 minutes of the movie, i guess it is a good one for people that like movies about love stories but I didn't. Boring, naïve, stupid.

Yes, Fresh and Relaxing Romance

[tabuno · 9/10 · 11 January 2019]

3 July 2017. I'm somewhat wordless because this "fresh" and "relaxing" romantic comedy drama sci fi movie pretty well sums it up, to borrow, in part, Preslav Penchev's description. There is a soft white coated softness to this movie. With a bio-medical sci fi element, this French-Belguim movie avoids much of the heightened anxious intensity of most sci fi movies and focuses more on the humor of the authentic moment, of humanity meeting science, and brings out the lusty craziness, the richness, the sadness, the longing, and the ultimate tenderness of romance and love. I'm not going to even try to compare this movie to any other movie as it seems to stand distinctively enough on its own. As Penchev's writes "naturalistic." Was available on Netflix.

It is worth enchanting if...

[RosanaBotafogo · 8/10 · 28 February 2022]

As passionate as surreal, a beautiful soundtrack to pack a romantic science fiction film, somewhat bizarre, but totally valid, we feel involved, we get infected with the hot scenes, and finally we hope that the research works, despite the unethical content incorporated into the scientific process... It is worth enchanting if...

Loved it but ...

[banananatime · 11 March 2023]

I actually kind of loved this movie, it started off rather silly and made me laugh quite a few times, and it was also a little nerdy which was great... but then it became more about the romance. I watched the movie because of Guillaume, but then I discovered the insanely beautiful Charlotte, and her character was very smart and turned out to be pretty calculating as well. The only thing I'm wondering is why they didn't address the fact that the reason the experiments failed was because HE didn't give her an orgasm the whole time! I mean he looked ashamed of himself but he probably should have said something to her?? It went from that to him being in love I suppose... kinda odd.