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The Beat That My Heart Skipped [2005] [DVD]
 
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The Beat That My Heart Skipped [2005] [DVD]

DVD ~ Romain Duris
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
RRP: £23.99
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Frequently Bought Together

The Beat That My Heart Skipped [2005] [DVD] + Read My Lips [DVD] [2002] + Tell No-One (Ne Le Dis A Personne) [DVD] [2006]
Total RRP: £63.97
Price For All Three: £18.74

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Beat That My Heart Skipped [2005] [DVD]
66% buy the item featured on this page:
The Beat That My Heart Skipped [2005] [DVD] 4.1 out of 5 stars (16)
£8.78
Tell No-One (Ne Le Dis A Personne) [DVD] [2006]
10% buy
Tell No-One (Ne Le Dis A Personne) [DVD] [2006] 4.0 out of 5 stars (72)
£3.98
The Beat That My Heart Skipped [DVD] [2005]
10% buy
The Beat That My Heart Skipped [DVD] [2005] 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£7.98
Read My Lips [DVD] [2002]
8% buy
Read My Lips [DVD] [2002] 4.3 out of 5 stars (16)
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Product details

  • Actors: Romain Duris, Neils Arestrup, Jonathan Zaccai, Gilles Cohen, Linh Dan Pham
  • Directors: Jacques Audiard
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL
  • Language French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Number of discs: 2
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Artificial Eye
  • DVD Release Date: 27 Mar 2006
  • Run Time: 102 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000C05YGI
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 10,986 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The Beat That My Heart Skipped could single-handedly give remakes a good name. Based on the 1978 American movie Fingers, The Beat , it 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 Skippedbecomes 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


Synopsis

Director Jacques Audiard and screenwriter Tonino Benacquista, who shared a 2002 Cesar Award for Best Original Screenplay for 'Read My Lips', team up again in 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped', a gritty psychological drama set in the dark, dank streets of Paris. The film is based on James Toback's cult favourite 'Fingers', in which Harvey Keitel played a tortured soul trapped between his love of the piano and his involvement with the mob. In this remake, 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, practising 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 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 dangerous situations. 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped' is an intelligent, involving film, told in long takes with a handheld camera to heighten the emotional impact of scene after scene.
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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Music That Makes Me Dance, 19 Mar 2006
By MICHAEL ACUNA (Southern California United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
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.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerising, 2 April 2006
By A Customer
I was intrigued to see this film after reading a lot of great reviews and it did live up to the hype. The story concerns a young man caught between a life of crime and violence and his rekindling of a childhood talent ( and love ) for playing the piano. You'll find yourself hooked, desperate to find out what will happen to him, will he manage to pursue his dreams or is he doomed to always be sucked back into the underworld?
Romain Dupris' performance is outstanding, the way he conveys a nervous, edgy energy is hypnotic and he looks pretty cool aswell! He's entirely believable with a kind of Liam Gallagher swagger (Don't let that put you off!) If this film hadn't been in a foreign language then an oscar would have been his.
Remember this is no Disney film, without giving away too much there's some nasty violence towards the end. This is a film that will definately leave a lasting impression.
P.S. What a genius title!!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful film, 15 May 2007
By L. Dablin "The Bibliophile" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is quite simply a beautiful film. It explores the depths of human emotions and the pain of conflicting loyalties - all the while with a beautiful musical score in the background. Really must be watched - preferably a few times - in order to gain the best experience from it. An easy 5 stars.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars The Beat That My Heart Skipped
The Plot
A minor criminal aspires to leave his life of crime behind and become a concern pianist, but both his past and present conspire to block his efforts... Read more
Published 9 days ago by C. MacLellan

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and enigmatic
One of the reviewers said they found the idea of redemption through music unconvincing. But I think this misses the point, the film doesn't answer the question it asks it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Vicky Martin

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Piece of Work
This film is fantastic. I think movies in french language seem to offer so much in way of pretension but never in content and delivery but this film blew me away. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. L. C. Rothery

3.0 out of 5 stars many good things, but finally does not convince
I was disappointed by this film. It has plenty of atmosphere, of the Paris streets at night, often from a car interior, of dowdy tenements, of squatters, and the scenario is... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane

5.0 out of 5 stars Maximum energy
The main character is presented in the first part as an unpleasant young man, the son of an unpleasant father, who works in the nasty business of exploiting the housing needs of... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Humpty Dumpty

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect - apart from the title
I fully accept the negative reviews, because the first time I sat down to watch this film, I got bored after 15 minutes and decided to try again another evening when I was less... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Tonkfan

2.0 out of 5 stars Unconvincing and confusing
This film obviously divides opinion and I fall on the side of those who didn't like it. The beginning of the film, with two men having a conversation is confusing, in that one... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Bluebell

5.0 out of 5 stars Shoot the pianist
The second-best remake EVER (after Bunuel's 'Diary of a Chambermaid' back in 1964), this also has the distinction of being one of the coolest films in existence. Read more
Published 20 months ago by International Cowgirl

2.0 out of 5 stars Maybe a beating heart, but the soul is absent......
Maybe I'm just getting too difficult to please. Or maybe my expectations were too high after reading glowing reviews, and waiting for so long to see this after it's release date... Read more
Published 21 months ago by West End Girl

3.0 out of 5 stars A Film Worth Skipping.
I had high hopes for this movie. The subject matter is enormously appealing to me as I play the piano myself. Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2007 by Mr. B. A. D. Plowman

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