A man finds his heart and soul torn between loyalty to his family and a need to be redeemed from his violent lifestyle in this powerful drama from France. Tom (Romain Duris) is a man in his early thirties who finds himself caught between two very different worlds. Tom loves music, and longs to have a career as a concert pianist; he also has talent, and is taking advanced music lessons from Miao-Lin (Linh Dan Pham). But Tom supports himself working as a collection agent for his father, Robert (Niels Arestrup), a mid-level gangster and loan shark, as well as helping Sami (Gilles Cohen) and Fabrice (Jonathan Zaccai), two of Robert's cronies who put together crooked real-estate deals. Tom's hair-trigger temper makes it easy for him to adapt to the violent life of a gangster's muscle man, but he wants to give his creative side a chance to grow, and struggles to get his skills in order for an audition with a concert promoter interested in his music. Tom is also walking on a wire with his employers by having an affair with Aline (Aure Atika), Fabrice's wife, and is forced to mediate a bitter feud between his father and a Russian gangster, Minskov (Anton Yakovlev). A remake of James Toback's acclaimed directorial debut, Fingers, The Beat That My Heart Skipped (aka De Battre Mon Coeur S'Est Arrêté) was nominated for the Golden Bear award at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (French: De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté) is a 2005 French film directed by Jacques Audiard and starring Romain Duris. It tells the story of Tom, a real estate thug torn between a criminal life and his desire to become a concert pianist. The film premiered on February 17, 2005 at the Berlin Film Festival.
The film is a remake of James Toback's 1978 film Fingers but is 17 minutes longer, devoting more attention to the relationship between Tom and his piano teacher, Miao Lin. The idea that affection can blossom despite a language barrier is one which Jacques Audiard has raised before in Read My Lips (starring Vincent Cassel).
For the film, Duris learned to play his own piano sequences – most notably, Bach's Toccata in E minor, trained by his sister, pianist Caroline Duris, who performs on the soundtrack.[1]
The film's French title comes from the lyrics of the Jacques Dutronc song La Fille Du Père Noël ("Santa Claus' Daughter"). The film title literally translates to English as "From beating, my heart stopped itself".
Plot
Intense young "tough" Thomas Seyr is a 28-year old real estate broker involved in shady business deals. His business partners, Fabrice and Sami, spend much of their time ruthlessly chasing squatters and illegal immigrants out of the buildings they have procured and trying to work their way around government housing regulations. Thomas is born to this kind of work; his father, Robert, is also involved in dodgy enterprises and sometimes calls upon Thomas to take care of unpleasant business (like beating up people who refuse to pay). Tom shows a protective and defensive attitude to his father who doesn't always appreciate what his son does for him – so much so that when his father introduces his new girlfriend to Tom, Tom undermines her to her face, and insults her to his father. Though she is a model, he decides she is "a whore." Later, when he tries to enlist her help to watch over his father, she tells him they broke up due to Robert changing his attitude and she is aware of Tom's backstabbing because Robert told her. Robert by this time is in danger from a Russian gangster, Minskov (Anton Yakovlev) who scammed him of a great deal of money and Tom is worried for his safety.
On the side, Tom wants to be a pianist like his mother and finds a teacher, virtuoso Miao Lin, to prepare for an audition opportunity. She speaks only Chinese, Vietnamese and some English, but no French. Eventually Tom reaches the high standards of his teacher while carrying on a relationship with the girlfriend of his father's Russian nemesis. Stretched to the limit and overtired, he fails to complete the audition. He goes to see his father only to find the apartment destroyed and his father murdered. Tom is devastated. Cut to two years later where Tom is Miao Lin's manager and partner, organising her schedule, her performances and being by her side. Just before a concert, he chances to see Minskov, takes him by surprise in the stairwell, gives him a beating on the stairs and threatens to use his own gun against him, before deciding to spare him. The film closes with Tom in the audience, knuckles and shirt bloody, exchanging slow-burning looks with Miao Lin at the piano.
Cast
Romain Duris, Thomas Seyr Niels Arestrup, Robert Seyr
Jonathan Zaccaï, Fabrice
Gilles Cohen, Sami Linh Dan Pham, Miao Lin
Jian-Zhang, Jean-Pierre (Miao Lin's brother)
Aure Atika, Aline Emmanuelle Devos, Chris
Anton Yakovlev, Minskov Mélanie Laurent, Minskov's Girlfriend
Agnès Aubé, Woman
Sandy Whitelaw, Mr. Fox
Emmanuel Finkiel, Conservatory Professor
