Straight for the Heart

Straight for the Heart
À corps perdu
Directed by	Léa Pool
Written by	Marcel Beaulieu Léa Pool
Based on	Kurwenal by Yves Navarre
Produced by	Denise Robert Robin Spry
Starring	Matthias Habich Johanne-Marie Tremblay Michel Voïta Jean-François Pichette
Cinematography	Pierre Mignot
Edited by	Michel Arcand
Music by	Osvaldo Montes
Release date	1988 (1988)
Running time	92 minutes
Countries	Canada Switzerland
Language	French
Budget	C$2.8 million

Straight for the Heart (French: À corps perdu) is a 1988 Canadian-Swiss French-language drama film directed by Léa Pool and written by Pool and Marcel Beaulieu. Adapted from Yves Navarre’s novel Kurwenal, the film follows a Montreal photojournalist who, on returning from a foreign assignment, finds that his ménage à trois relationship has ended. It won Best Dramatic Feature at the 1988 Atlantic Film Festival and was selected for competition at Venice and Chicago.

Synopsis

Pierre Kurwenal, a photojournalist, returns to Montreal after an assignment in Nicaragua, where he has photographed scenes of political violence. He finds that Sarah and David, with whom he had lived in a long-term ménage à trois, have left him, and that Sarah is pregnant with David’s child. After confronting Sarah and David, Pierre wanders through Montreal and begins a relationship with Quentin, a deaf window washer.

Cast

The cast includes:

• Matthias Habich as Pierre Kurwenal
• Johanne-Marie Tremblay as Sarah
• Michel Voïta as David
• Jean-François Pichette as Quentin
• Kim Yaroshevskaya as Noémie
• Jacqueline Bertrand as the mother
• France Castel as Michèle
• Victor Désy as Dr. Ferron

Production

Straight for the Heart was a Canadian-Swiss co-production. It was produced by Denise Robert and Robin Spry, written by Léa Pool and Marcel Beaulieu, and adapted from Yves Navarre’s novel Kurwenal. The film had a budget of C$2.8 million.

Reception

Awards

At the 1988 Atlantic Film Festival, À corps perdu won Best Dramatic Feature. The film also received awards from the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma and the Société générale des industries culturelles in 1988.

Critical response

The New York Times described the film as a “visually compelling drama” and wrote that Lea Pool filmed Montreal with “exquisite sensitivity to the relationship among architecture, climate and the emotions”. The Los Angeles Times wrote that it was “ambitious and stylized” and described Matthias Habich as “the perfect actor for Pierre”.

Filmdienst praised the film’s sensitive use of visual montage to convey inner fracture. Filmbulletin wrote that it initially seemed at risk of fragmentation, but became clearer and denser as it progressed. It said the film’s stability and intensity came partly from Matthias Habich’s physical performance, and highlighted Pierre Mignot’s cinematography for its handling of visual contrasts.

Festival screenings

À corps perdu was presented in competition at the 1988 Venice Film Festival. It also screened in official competition at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1988.

See also

• List of LGBT films directed by women

Further reading

• "Léa Pool" (PDF). Swiss Films. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
• Lerner, Loren Ruth (1997). Canadian Film and Video: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature. Vol. 1. University of Toronto Press. p. 1260. ISBN 978-0-8020-2988-1.
• Waugh, Thomas (2006). The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 490. ISBN 978-0-7735-3188-8.

External links

• À corps perdu at IMDb