The beat that my heart skipped [de battre mon coeur s'est arrette]

Jacques Audiard, France, 2005, 107 minutes

From the director of Read My Lips (Sur mes levres) and starring delectable French star of the moment, Romain Duris (l'Auberge Espagnole, Arsene Lupin, Exils, Poupées Russes) The beat that my heart skipped is a contemporary thriller set in Paris. Styling itself as a remake of James Toback's 1978 film Fingers, the film departs from its American predecessor in several ways. Beat dispenses with the overtly Freudian sexual issues of Toback's protagonist in favour of Duris's impish charms, making Duris's character Tomas Seyr into a lovable but somewhat rudderless small time gangster. Since his mother's death, Tom has become involved in his father's shady property development business, but a chance meeting with his mother's former manager reawakens his passion for the piano. Soon, Tom's life is split between preparing for a concert piano audition and collecting debts for his father's business. Like Fingers, music is indicative in Beat, separating the contrasting sides of Tom's life. At home, Tom listensobsessively to recordings of his mother's rehearsals and concerts, when driving to work appointments he listens to pop and electro. Where Toback's film is suffused with issues of sexuality that were in the forefront in 1978, Audiard's film is far more a meditation on class, as symbolised by the contrasting pursuits of professional, classical musicianship and the underworld associations of dodgy property letting. Beat is fast-paced and clever, always balancing displays of violence with the delicacy of piano rehearsal. Also remarkable is the rapport between Duris and his co-star Lihn-Dan Phaum, who plays his Chinese piano coach Miao Lin, particularly as they spend much of the film communicating only through a shared language of musical terms and movements. These scenes are beautifully acted, bristling with Tom's impatience and Miao's quiet persistence. The beat that my heart skipped demonstrates that it is possible to produce a good remake, and for this reason alone it is worth seeing. You also have to admire Audiard's audacity for taking on the Americans at their own game, particularly as most remakes seem to go in the other direction ie. from Europe and Asia to America. Beat is also being touted as Duris's breakout serious role, go and see if he lives up to his hype.

Review by Sarah Artt
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2006