De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (2005)

Director:

Jacques Audiard

Writers:

Jacques Audiard (writer)
Tonino Benacquista (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 2005 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Music

Plot:

Should Tom (Duris) make like his thuggish father or pursue his dream of becoming a pianist?

Plot Keywords:

Business Deal | Cigarette Smoking | Audition | Remake Of American Film | Paris France

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 17 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Romain Duris	...	Thomas Seyr
Niels Arestrup	...	Robert Seyr
Jonathan Zaccaï	...	Fabrice
Gilles Cohen	...	Sami
Linh Dan Pham	...	Miao Lin
Aure Atika	...	Aline
Emmanuelle Devos	...	Chris
Anton Yakovlev	...	Minskov
Mélanie Laurent	...	Minskov's Girlfriend
Agnès Aubé	...	Woman
Etienne Dirand	...	Old Man
Denis Falgoux	...	Metreur
Serge Boutleroff	...	Man (as Serge Onteniente)
Sandy Whitelaw	...	Mr. Fox
Emmanuel Finkiel	...	Conservatory Professor

Also Known As:

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (International: English title)

Runtime:

Germany:107 min | Japan:108 min | USA:108 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Cantonese | English | Russian | Vietnamese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:R-12 | Norway:11 | Netherlands:16 | Germany:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Hungary:16 | Iceland:16 | Ireland:15A | Brazil:14 | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | Australia:M | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

91 - Café Les Jardins d'Issoire, rue de la Tombe Issoire, Paris 14, Paris, France

Company:

Why Not Productions

Trivia:

Thomas's headphones are Sony MDR-V300.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Fingers (1978)

An interesting character study

Some of us take a large portion of our DNA from the father's side, other the mother's. With 28-year-old Thomas Seyr (Romain Duris), it's a 50/50 affair. He is just as much as (maybe even more so) of a thug as his father is in his shady activities as a real estate broker, but at the same time promising material for concert pianist following his mother's footsteps. His father, over-the-hill but refusing to quit, we see considerably in the movie. His mother we never see, as she died when he was a youth, shattering his musical dreams.

The plot is not so much of a linear story, but more of a cross-sectional cuts of various aspects of Thomas' life. On the more mundane side are his business activities that alway verge on being criminal, his affair with his partner's neglected wife and his relationship with his father to whom he seems quite devoted.

More interesting is his musical pursuits, triggered by a chance encounter with his late mother's manager who remembers his talent and invites him to an audition "when he is ready". This leads to his seeking help from an accomplished pianist Miao Lin, a young women who studied in the Beijing Conservatory, just arrived in Paris, speaking no French at all and "just a little" English. (Here we see the not unusual sloppiness when an Asian aspect is covered in a "western" movie. There is absolutely no logical reason for a woman from China to be speaking Vietnamese, except for one - the actress IS Vietnamese). Anyway, the communication purely through music and gesture is very well handled.

The shooting style is quite contemporary, and leans towards using darker scenes. Interesting to note that in the two series of piano practicing scenes, it's always dark and gloomy when he plays at home, but is reasonably bright when he is at coach Miao Lin's place.

As with such non-story-oriented movies, the ending is inconclusive. But that does not matter as it is the character study that is of prime interest.