Hits all the right notes
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
dir. Jacques Audiard; starring Romain Duris, Emanuelle Devos
The transatlantic celluloid lines in the sand are shifting: whilst auterish Broken Flowers reeks of Gauloises and Amelie reveals how French cinema has gone to Hollywood, Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped seems a fabulous return to Gallic type - except it is actually a remake of an American classic, Fingers. The credits slide on to the screen, three besuited men swagger through the Parisian night.
These gangsters are estate agents, men who spend their time planting rats in buildings and cutting off electricity. The titular heart of this film is aflame: it beats with feverish energy as a hand-held camera stalks its protagonist Thom (Duris), a man torn between the brutalism of his work and the beauty of a long forgotten passion, the piano.
Audiard’s greatest trick is in capturing Thom’s gusto: he fiddles with his hands, taps his feet and plays the piano like he’s coked up to the tips of fingers. We feel exactly what is like to look those piano keys square in the eye. Brilliantly done, this should make your heart skip.
3rd Nov 2005