Product Description

Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 06/19/2007 Run time: 107 minutes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24926 in DVD
• Brand: Genius
• Released on: 2005-11-22
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Russian, Vietnamese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
The Beat That My Heart Skipped could single-handedly give remakes a good name. Based on the 1978 American movie Fingers, The Beat... stars Romain Duris (L'Auberge Espagnole) as Tom, a hoodlum who works the shady side of real estate--evicting poor families from slums, cutting quick and dirty deals in the middle of the night--following in the footsteps of his sleazy father. But clearly Tom loathes both himself and everything he does. One night he accidentally runs into the man who managed Tom's mother, who was a pianist; the manager asks Tom himself to audition, as Tom once showed promise. All at once Tom hires a tutor and neglects his "duties," raising the ire of his cohorts but starting to make himself happy. This could be hokum about the power of art, but Duris' performance is so visceral, so emotionally vivid and engaging, that The Beat That My Heart Skipped becomes a remarkable parable about the danger of betraying yourself--all the more powerful because Tom's life doesn't simply get better, it grows dangerously more complicated. A superb movie with excellent performances throughout, making Duris' standout work all the more impressive. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
The jumpy young hero of Jacques Audiard's new film, Thomas Seyr (Romain Duris), works at sordid real-estate schemes while dreaming of a career as a concert pianist. As Tom tears around Paris, rushing in and out of buildings and clubs, Audiard and his cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine crowd in behind him. In his black leather jacket, Duris is an anxious little hot shot with a twitchy, feral snarl that comes close to the reflexive grimace of the dangerous young Jean-Louis Trintignant. As Tom begins to move away from crime, the picture doesn't collapse into a stuffy display of virtue-the classical music that might save the hero is just as dangerous for him as his life of intimidation and fraud. With Niels Arestrup as Tom's baleful old reprobate father and Linh-Dan Pham as the Vietnamese pianist who takes him on as a student. This remake is more realistic and convincing than the movie it was based on, the notorious James Toback picture from 1978, "Fingers," in which Harvey Keitel starred as a Mafia enforcer who loved to play Bach. In French.-D.D. (7/4/05) -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Music and the journey towards self-redemption
There is a distinct quality and style that most French films have, among them, the subtle music that plays on the background, or the use of silence to heighten emotions. But this movie made use of a much `louder' more modern music to really bring in the characters. Directed by Jacques Audiard, The Beat that my Heart Skipped is actually a remake based on the 1978 American movie Fingers. But unlike some remakes, it surpasses the original, not only because of the vision of its Director but for the powerful portrayal of its lead actor, Romain Duris.

In one of the most memorable performances of any actor of his generation, Duris transformed himself into Tom, a hoodlum who terrorizes poor urban dwellers in order to buy cheap properties and sell them for profits. There is a tradition to his work as he inherits the same `vocation' from his father. There is, however, a certain side to Tom, an artistic side, the one talent he inherited from his dead mother- the love of classical music and an ability (a remarkable talent, actually) to play the piano. As he struggles to maintain some semblance of `humanity' in his arresting and despicable character, he has to make a choice whether to remain loyal to his father and continue in their work or pursue a career in music, perhaps the only way out for him and a chance to redeem himself.

"De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté", is more than just a film about self-discovery and of love, it is a powerful testament to the ability of an individual to change.

The Music That Makes Me Dance
Tom (Romain Duris) works as a sort of real-estate thug. He and his partners trash buildings in low-income areas, buying them low and selling them high for a quick profit. It's a grotesque scam that involves letting sewer rats loose in target buildings so as to scare out squatters and sometimes paying tenants.
Tom's work is morally corrupt and physically debilitating and Tom manifests this corruptness in the very core of his being: he's depressed, violent, short-tempered and vehemently without empathy and humanity. He is only seemingly nice when a good-looking woman is around and that is only so he can bed her.
Then one day he spots his dead mother's music manager who promises him an audition which draws Tom back into his musical training: something he deserted many years before. Tom throws himself into classical music at first as a challenge to recapture his talent. But what he doesn't initially realize is that music will ultimately prove to be his salvation...turning him from the darkness to the light.
Music has always been something that Tom has associated with what little good he has experienced in his life. To him, music recalls his loving mother. To him, music has always meant love. And he grasps at a life in music like a drowning man grasps at a life preserver. He is as neurotic at reclaiming his musical talent as he is at stealing, drinking, drugging and cheating. He has a goal for the first time in many, many years.
Romain Duris ("The Spanish Apartment," "Le Divorce") heretofore has always been the good guy: young and sweet yet in both of these roles he was always a little devious, a little devilish. Here, Duris is all about Cuban-heeled shoes, black leather jacket, buffed out body, dyed black hair and unflinching scowl. More importantly, Tom has a big black hole where his soul should be and he uses his love of music to fill it...little by little as a compulsive eater uses food to fill an emptiness that is never quite satiated. Duris gives a profound, thoughtful and passionate performance.
Director Jacques Audiard (the sublime "Read My Lips") has made a film redolent of darkness and misanthropy on one hand and hope and light on the other. And it is this ambiguity that makes this film snap with world-weary wit and non-sanctimonious truth.
Redemption through the intricacies and beauty found within and between the notes of a Bach Toccata? Oh, yes.

The Music That Makes Me Dance
Tom (Romain Duris) works as a sort of real-estate thug. He and his partners trash buildings in low-income areas, buying them low and selling them high for a quick profit. It's a grotesque scam that involves letting sewer rats loose in target buildings so as to scare out squatters and sometimes paying tenants.
Tom's work is morally corrupt and physically debilitating and Tom manifests this corruptness in the very core of his being: he's depressed, violent, short-tempered and vehemently without empathy and humanity. He is only seemingly nice when a good-looking woman is around and that is only so he can bed her.
Then one day he spots his dead mother's music manager who promises him an audition which draws Tom back into his musical training: something he deserted many years before. Tom throws himself into classical music at first as a challenge to recapture his talent. But what he doesn't initially realize is that music will ultimately prove to be his salvation...turning him from the darkness to the light.
Music has always been something that Tom has associated with what little good he has experienced in his life. To him, music recalls his loving mother. To him, music has always meant love. And he grasps at a life in music like a drowning man grasps at a life preserver. He is as neurotic at reclaiming his musical talent as he is at stealing, drinking, drugging and cheating. He has a goal for the first time in many, many years.
Romain Duris ("The Spanish Apartment," "Le Divorce") heretofore has always been the good guy: young and sweet yet in both of these roles he was always a little devious, a little devilish. Here, Duris is all about Cuban-heeled shoes, black leather jacket, buffed out body, dyed black hair and unflinching scowl. More importantly, Tom has a big black hole where his soul should be and he uses his love of music to fill it...little by little as a compulsive eater uses food to fill an emptiness that is never quite satiated. Duris gives a profound, thoughtful and passionate performance.
Director Jacques Audiard (the sublime "Read My Lips") has made a film redolent of darkness and misanthropy on one hand and hope and light on the other. And it is this ambiguity that makes this film snap with world-weary wit and non-sanctimonious truth.
Redemption through the intricacies and beauty found within and between the notes of a Bach Toccata? Oh, yes.