De Battre mon Coeur s'est Arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) poster & wallpaper
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Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh-Dan Pham, Aure Atika, Emmanuelle Devos ... see more see more... , Jonathan Zaccaï , Gilles Cohen , Anton Yakovlev , Mélanie Laurent , David Birge-Cotte , Linh Dan Pham

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 thir... read more read more...ties 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, Rovi

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83% liked it

9,179 ratings

Critics

85% liked it

95 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 47 min.

Directed by: Jacques Audiard

Release Date: July 1, 2005

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DVD Release Date: November 15, 2005

Stats: 700 reviews

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De Battre mon Coeur s'est Arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) Romain Duris in The Beat That My Heart Skipped Romain Duris in The Beat That My Heart Skipped De Battre mon Coeur s'est Arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) De Battre mon Coeur s'est Arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
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Flixster Reviews (700)

  • blacksheepboy
    April 22, 2012
    blacksheepboy
    Romain Duris is fantastic here, doing an exceptional work in the composition of his character, with a special care for small details. A compelling, fascinating character study about an unsatisfied man trying to have back his life and follow his dream.
  • SirPant
    October 2, 2009
    SirPant
    A very entertaining modern film-noir. Audiard is a very capable director and you can clearly spot his admiration and influence for Truffaut and Goddard. It is Romain Duris who steals the show though in a fantastic performance.
  • ebs90
    July 26, 2009
    ebs90

    In De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arreté, the main character, Tom, goes through many ordeals in a desperate attempt to find himself. He works, like his father, in "real estate", which is an euphemism for "breaking into abandoned buildings, brutally forcing the inhabitants out, and

    ... read morethen selling them". He is immoral to no end, as are his friends and associates. However, as the film unfolds, it's clear that he did not only inherit his father's interests; the individualism he has suppressed tries to break free by wanting to follow the footsteps of his pianist mother. Tom gets an audition with the man who managed his mother when she was alive, and begins to try and juggle the tough, almost mob-like life he leads as a "broker", and his piano rehearsals.

    Tom is such an interesting character. He looks very tough and insufferable and he seems not to give a damn about anyone except his father, but when he shows a sensible side, it's heartbreaking. He cares too profoundly about his father, even though it's because of him that he works at something that he doesn't really like very much. His father sometimes uses him to get rent from stubborn tennants... and although Tom knows he's being manipulated, he can't say no. The father-son dynamics are very well developed and they are one of the many inner currents that suck you into the film. Audiard is very good at directing partnerships in which what is said isn't as important as what is implicit; he's an excellent actor's director.


    As Tom begins to delve into piano playing, his sensibility begins to awaken from the somber letharg it had been in. When Tom works he is often in dark, dirty, unhealthy environments, frowning and swearing, whereas when he plays the piano, atlhough it enrages him not to play perfectly, he knows he has to unlink himself from that inhuman world. The piano becomes his escape, and his rediscovered love for art begin to form in him a desire to be a better person. Thanks to that he falls in love. And he begins to find his work revolting.


    The drama kicks in with subtlety. The turning point is difficult to grasp; the film flows so harmoniously. But soon the problem will be fully exposed: Tom can't marry his job and his love for music. He can't quit either. Something very big has to happen. He detests his job but he's too intimately bound to it... he can't let his father down.


    I thought this conflict was very original and very involving. I could feel very closely Tom's desperation and the different attitudes he takes in front of the difficulty of being his own person. A 28 year old man who is, all of a sudden, trapped, just while he is on the brink of making the most important change of his life.


    Audiard's narrative is one of the highlights. He relies very much on visual language, and he does "speak" it with immense clarity. His dialog almost never makes reference to the great themes of the film, but they are always clear. I think what adds to DBMSE's charisma is that illusion of uncertainty. Which was the exact case of Sur Mes Levres, another great film.


    Romain Duris is the force behind it all, though. He delivers a really fine, torrid performance... captivating when he wants to get his way, and tortured in front of his challenges. Most importantly, he plays Tom with contained passion and charming wickedness, which, in my opinion, defines him during the first hlafof the film. Later on, after the character discovers the changing power of art, he becomes eager, wide-eyed, excited but terrified. Duris evidences these changes so naturally it even seems careless.


    Behind the violent premise -Tom's "business"- is a complex film. It's accessible but it requires attention and openness. This isn't just the story of a gangster "getting soft", it's about a person struggling desperately to be independent. Regardless of where that independence will lead him. Audiard seems to be a fan of people going to their limits and then exceeding them.
  • gator681
    October 12, 2006
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]In "The Beat that My Heart Skipped", Tom(Romain Duris) is a young man who takes after his father(Niels Arestrup) by working shady real estate deals. He also occasionally does favors for the old man when a bit of force is required. While driving past a concert... read more hall, Tom notices his mother's former agent, Mr. Fox(Sandy Whitelaw).(Tom's mother was an accomplished concert pianist and he had aspirations in the same direction...) After inquiring about whether he has kept up his playing over the years, Mr. Fox hands the young man his card and an offer to audition...[/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]"The Beat that My Heart Skipped" is a remake of the massively overrated "Fingers" starring Harvey Keitel. It is also the very rare remake that is superior because of all remnants of James Toback's psyche having been purged and a better central performance which sheds more light on the lead character's mental state.(Or maybe some movies play better in French...) Tom is an impulsive man(which helps in his affinity for violence), and has had little patience required for the career of a concert pianist in the past. Additionally, he is a charming man but has had trouble maintaining relationships and lives alone.[/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]Note: My interest in seeing a remake depends upon my feelings towards the original work. For example, I do want to see the "All the King's Men" remake because I can hardly remember the original. On the other, I very much liked "Infernal Affairs", so I'm not going to go near "The Departed."[/font]
  • lesleyanorton
    April 14, 2010
    lesleyanorton
    Tom is a real-estate hooligan by day, but dreams of being a concert pianist by night. Excellent acting by Roman Duris, who manages to bring together amoral thug, loving son and sensitive artist into one part and make it work, and an absorbing character study though I found the fi... read morenal epilogue a bit of an unnecessary tag-on. Cool title too..
  • kylemydude
    March 7, 2010
    kylemydude
    A great film, not quite as good as "Read My Lips," but still highly reccomended. Romain Duris delivered an intense and emotional performance, and Aure Atika was gorgeous! Also, a small role but the beautiful Melanie Laurent of "Inglorious Basterds" fame is in it and plays a semi-... read morekey part. Emmanuelle Devos of "Read My Lips" also has a small role as well. I need to see the original, "Fingers," with Harvey Keitel.
  • fb67801456
    April 12, 2012
    fb67801456
    Beatifully shot and acted. I have issues with the ending but I enjoyed the film very much all things considered
  • RicC
    July 17, 2009
    RicC
    Not something I can relate to, and the lead guy is really ugly.

    Art house existential drama about second chances, I think.
  • nicelygarcia
    June 4, 2007
    nicelygarcia
    A beautiful film. And the fact that it's about piano playing is even better because I love piano! Even though I can't play...
  • justindavis1
    May 28, 2007
    justindavis1
    This is a surprisingly interesting dramatic thriller. I'd recommend it. It seems particularly strong for its genre and combines such diverse elements as pretty brutal but basically small time thuggery with a main character who also has a deep appreciation for music and can also... read more exist in that world. I recommend this movie not just for people who enjoy thrillers; that's not even my preferred genre, but indeed for everyone.

View All De Battre mon Coeur s'est Arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
April 7, 2010
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Niels Arestrup is striking as the hero's slumlord father. Full Review

Bill Muller
September 29, 2005
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

None of this would work without Duris' simmering performance as Tom, a person who's struggling to find his true calling. Full Review

Tom Long
August 19, 2005
Tom Long, Detroit News

Audiard has a nice stride here, establishing Tom's world and then altering it with slow insistence.

Terry Lawson
August 19, 2005
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Audiard has wisely avoided the crime-movie clichés of Toback's Fingers, and if his film is not exactly naturalistic, it is steeped in a reality that makes it all the more compelling.

James Berardinelli
July 29, 2005
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

This is character-driven film noir, where the violence serves a higher purpose than shocking or titillating an audience. Full Review

Steven Rea
July 28, 2005
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Duris' performance is more finely tuned and less frenetic than Keitel's enjoyably over-the-top job, and the film's emotional chords resonate in more satisfying and complicated ways.

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
July 28, 2005
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It's a tense, jumpy, sometimes amusing work that posits the inherent duality of everything. And, most definitely, the intriguing duality of people. Full Review

Robert Denerstein
July 22, 2005
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News

A French movie that reclaims some of the urgency and breathless enthusiasm of the movies we loved in the '70s.

Ty Burr
July 22, 2005
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The film confirms director Audiard as a master of visual mood, in this case one of barely expressed emotional panic. Full Review

Andrew Sarris
July 21, 2005
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

The conceit of a strongarm hoodlum doubling as a concert pianist seemed really silly to me back in 1978, and it seems no less silly today. Full Review

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