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De Battre Mon Coeur s'est Arrêté...

On Friday Stuart treated me to a film as thank you for doing some taping for him. Not only did he treat me to the film but he bought me a copy of his favourite book too - Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. Nice lad.

De Battre Mon Coeur s'est Arrêté (aka The Beat That My Heart Skipped) is a gritty psychological drama set in the dark, dank streets of Paris. The film is based on the cult favourite Fingers with Harvey Keitel. In this remake, the very cute Romain Duris stars as Tom, a ne-'er-do-well who works with two scheming real estate men, Fabrice (Jonathan Zaccai) and Sami (Gilles Cohen), who have little or no morals. When Tom sees his mother's old agent, he decides to return to the piano, practicing Bach's Toccata in E Minor for an important audition that he envisions could be a life-changing event. He hires a Vietnamese woman, Miao-Lin (Linh-Dan Pham), as his teacher, even though they speak different languages. While struggling to regain his mastery of the piano - which he gave up after his virtuoso mother's tragic death - he is called upon by his partners to participate in more and more shady deals and even help one of them cheat on his wife (Aure Atika). He also has a troublesome relationship with his father (Niels Arestrup), who asks Tom to collect money he is owed, putting him in many dangerous and violent situations. The Beat That My Heart Skipped is an intelligent, involving film, told in long takes with a handheld camera - and that really gives the film a strong impact. Recommended.