Der Wilde Schlag meines Herzens (The Beat that My Heart Skipped, De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté)
France 2005

Opening 22 Sep 2005

Directed by: Jacques Audiard
Writing credits: Jacques Audiard, Tonino Benacquista, James Toback
Principal actors: Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Jonathan Zaccaï, Gilles Cohen, Linh Dan Pham

In this French film, Tom (Romain Duris) is a young, hard-boiled businessman who dirty deals in real estate and evicts poor people by letting rats loose in the building if all else fails. In this way he is much like his father, who is past his zenith but still a bully with a blond ding-a-ling for company. Tom reveres his father; he makes excuses for him and aspires to be his equal. At the same time he has the musical talent of his deceased mother, who, as a concert pianist, had encouraged him in his lessons. He resumes lessons with a Chinese woman; their only mutual language is music as she can’t speak French. Will Tom become a washed-up gangster like his father or a chalice of the arts like his mother? Director Jacques Audiard has remade a French version of the 1977 film Fingers, originally by James Toback with Harvey Keitel in the title role. This is another French film which you either like or won’t understand. I admit that I have my problems with French films, but I enjoyed this one, mostly because of the charisma of the main actor, Romain Duris. It would be interesting to locate the original Fingers to compare the two films. (Becky Tan)