For about half its running time, the Belgian musical drama The Broken Circle Breakdown manages to achieve a fine balance between vibrant, sensual romanticism, swooning musical numbers and heartrending drama. In telling the story of Elise (Veerie Baetens) and Didier (Johan Heidenbergh, who also co-wrote the original play upon which the film is based), a couple whose young daughter is battling cancer, director Felix Van Groeningen uses a non-linear approach to cut between different stages of their relationship. This makes for some startling juxtapositions, taking us from their current heartbreak in a hospital to the first time they slept together and everywhere in between, contrasting the hope and lust of their early days to their present circumstances to often devastating effect. The scenes of their blooming relationship are handled with a light touch that is infectious, and makes the scenes of them holding it together for their little girl almost unbearably poignant.