The Broken Circle Breakdown, a Belgian musical

Director Felix Van Groeningen crafted an extraordinarily intimate bluegrass musical drama with true passion and heartbreak.

At the center are tour de force performances from Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh, who lived and breathed their characters' doomed love with raw vulnerability.

Every breakthrough moment of Didier and Elise's relationship - from eye contact at a gig to child rearing bliss - felt replayed from my own experiences. Deeply empathetic performances.

Van Groeningen films their rural Flanders community's rituals and music with painterly care, transporting us fully to their simple lives then torn apart.

While grief and tension build, so too do the soulful bluegrass numbers they perform together. Uplifting the shattering of personal worldviews.

This Belgium indie shattered my defenses—a tremendous achievement for any film. Its emotionally resonant Blue Valentine-like portrait of eroding passion left me shattered for days.

Simply one of the most accomplished and moving love stories in recent memory. Van Groeningen's humanity won me over completely with this cinematic tour de force.

It won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 2015 European Film Awards, as well as Best Film and Best Director honors at the Magritte Awards in Belgium. Internationally, it was submitted for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar but didn't receive a nomination. However, its acclaim opened many eyes to Belgian cinema.

At the box office, it performed remarkably well - grossing over $3 million worldwide against its small $650K budget. Showing strong art house returns.

Critics everywhere were deeply moved, with Rotten Tomatoes showing a 97% rating. It appeared on many top 10 lists and kickstarted careers.