A French comedy “Between Heaven and Earth” / L’Âme idéale (2025) begins with a rather bold idea.
There are quite a few films with the Russian title “Between Heaven and Earth,” so let us clarify right away: we are talking specifically about a fresh French picture from 2025 — a romantic comedy L’Âme idéale (You Found Me).
A man has died.
But he categorically refuses to accept that fact.
Well, yes, a great premise for a comedy. Hilarious. 😆
Although in reality the film is not at all about making jokes about death. It is a very French — calm, light, and at the same time slightly sad — story, in which comedy constantly coexists with melodrama, drama, and unexpectedly serious reflections on life.
The main heroine Elsa possesses a gift that is highly questionable from the standpoint of a quiet life: she sees and hears people who have only just died.
They have not yet managed to understand what has happened. Some are angry, some cling to their former life, some cannot leave their loved ones behind, and some simply need to finish something important.
And Elsa becomes a kind of guide for them — she helps them accept what has happened and move on.
Only Elsa's own personal life is not so simple. Not every partner is ready to calmly grow close to a person who sees and hears the dead. To some it is an oddity, to others it is too heavy a part of her world, and for Elsa herself it is yet another reason why intimacy comes harder than it seems.
That is precisely why the film gradually becomes far deeper than it seems at the beginning.
It constantly changes mood. A moment ago it was an almost light French comedy — and now it is a drama. A few minutes more — a melodrama. Then humour appears again, and right after it a conversation about love, loss, fear, and about what it truly means to accept life as it is.
At the same time, the film does not turn into a heavy philosophical lecture. It remains very European in its intonation: unhurried, warm, slightly ironic, but not at all boring.
And closer to the finale it becomes clear that this is, in fact, not so much a film about death.
It is a film about love.
About how easy it is to hold on to what is already gone. And how much harder it sometimes is to allow yourself to live on.
And be sure to wait for the finale.
Because that is where perhaps the main idea of the whole story appears. It goes something like this:
— Have you made your peace with death, Oskar?
— And have you made your peace with life, Elsa?
And after that the whole film suddenly comes together into one very simple and very beautiful thought:
accepting death is sometimes easier than truly accepting one's own life.
A calm, beautiful and unexpectedly deep French film that at first promises a comedy about a dead man who refuses to acknowledge the obvious, and ends as a very good melodrama about the living.
From Gaya — 8.1/10
And here it becomes clear why the film has such a high rating.
It does not end with the closing credits. For a day or two afterwards you catch yourself returning in your thoughts to individual scenes, lines and the very idea of acceptance — of death, life, love, loss, oneself.
This is a very philosophical and emotional film about feelings. Without loud declarations, but with that rare effect when a story truly touches the strings of the soul.
That is why our 8.1/10 — not only for the plot, the acting or the atmosphere.
But for the fact that the film leaves a trace.
And, perhaps, it is precisely this that distinguishes merely good cinema from the kind that stays with you for some time after the viewing.
And if the filming had been a little "more thorough", our score would have been even higher, because the screenplay here is perfectly fine.
Enjoy the viewing! 📽🍿🍧🍦🍨🎞🎬
