The Beat That My Heart Skipped

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The Beat That My Heart Skipped
(De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté)
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Produced by Pascal Caucheteux
Written by Jacques Audiard
Tonino Benacquista
Starring Romain Duris
Niels Arestrup
Jonathan Zaccaï
Gilles Cohen
Linh Dan Pham
Aure Atika
Emmanuelle Devos
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Editing by Juliette Welfling
Release date(s) Flag of Germany 17 February 2005 (premiere at BIFF)
Flag of France 16 March 2005
Flag of the United States 1 July 2005 (limited)
Flag of the United Kingdom 4 November 2005
Running time 107/108 min.
Language French
IMDb profile

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 a wish to be a pianist. The film premiered on February 17, 2005 at the Berlin Film Festival.

Contents

[edit] Background

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 learnt 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 title literally translates to English as "From beating, my heart stopped".

[edit] Plot

Intense young "tough" Thomas Seyr is a 28-year old realestate 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).[2] 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 partner 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,[3] to prepare for an audition opportunity. She speaks only Chinese, some English and no French. Eventually Tom reaches the high standards of his teacher, while carrying on an affair with Fabrice's wife and has sex with the girlfriend of his father's Russian nemesis, but 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. Life seems to go nowhere when the film jumps two years into the future 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 men's washroom, gives him a beating on the stairs and is tempted to use his own gun against him. The film closes with Tom in the audience, knuckles and shirt bloody, exchanging slow-burning looks with Miao Lin at the piano.

[edit] 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

[edit] Awards and nominations

BAFTA Awards

  • Won
    • BAFTA Film Award Best Film not in the English Language

Berlin International Film Festival

César Awards

  • Won:
  • Nominated:
    • Best Actor (Romain Duris)
    • Best Sound (Philippe Amouroux, Cyril Holtz, Brigitte Taillandier and Pascal Villard)

European Film Awards

French Syndicate of Cinema Critics

  • Won:
    • Best Film

[edit] References

  1. ^ Toumani, Meline. "The 60-Day Course in Perfect Fake Piano Playing", The New York Times, 2005-07-10. Retrieved on 2008-01-03. 
  2. ^ [http://www.sbs.com.au/schedule/2008-06-5/SBS%20Television}
  3. ^ [1]

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
The Motorcycle Diaries		 BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language
2005		 Succeeded by
Pan's Labyrinth
Preceded by
Games of Love and Chance		 César Award for Best Film
2006		 Succeeded by
Lady Chatterley