That was an excellent one.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

In this drama a man finds himself split between his violent life as an enforcer for his loan shark father and his desire to be a concert pianist.This French film is somewhat unusual in its combining of disparate genres. What could otherwise be a fairly typical crime narrative about a violent individual at a turning point in his life is given an extra dimension when he decides to take advanced piano lessons from a Chinese woman who speaks little to no French. This improbable turn of events takes the story down a less familiar path. Aside from his criminal and musical activities, the central character also makes time to engage in an illicit affair with the wife of his closest business associate and finds himself in the midst of a dangerous situation in dealing with no-nonsense Russian gangsters who his father is trying to take a debt off. All these differing dynamics result in an entertaining and varied film. Romain Duris is very good in the lead role and carries the dramatics mostly given that he is in every scene. All-in-all, I found this one to be a very satisfying and quite diverse drama which managed to combine a variety of ideas very well.

"From Jacques Audiard, the acclaimed filmmaker," notes the DVD sleeve, "comes this haunting new thriller that fuses two unlikely worlds to create a stunning portrait of a young gangster. Romain Duris, in a standout performance, plays Tom, a 28-year-old who seems destined to follow in his father's footsteps as a Parisian property shark working in a sleazy and sometimes brutal world. However, a chance encounter with his late mother's music agent leads him to believe that he can become, like his mother, a concert pianist. In earnest, he starts preparing for the audition with the help of a beautiful, young virtuoso pianist who has just arrived from China. She doesn't speak a word of French; music is their only exchange. But pressures from the ugly world of his day job become more than he can handle…" Strange how this film has found its way into my hands before the original, US-made "Fingers" (1978), starring Harvey Keitel; more often, the American re-make of a French film predominates. Probably, the reason is that Mr. Audiard's version was immediately acclaimed as the latest work from a superior director. Re-titled "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" for English readers, this is a nicely performed character-driven crime drama. Twitching and quivering, Mr. Duris is especially memorable as the unhappy degenerate who yearns for respectability through musicianship. Unfortunately, the "shaky camera" technique gets out of hand sometimes, distracting during a couple of scenes; mostly, the wobbling stays in the realm of a sway or bounce - even when the characters are not, of course. C'est la vie.******* De battre mon coeur s'est arrete (2/17/05) Jacques Audiard ~ Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh-Dan Pham, Aure Atika

I generally like French films, but this one is not very good. I think the good reviews are from people who want it to be brilliant, but it is actually poorly written and lazily acted. The violent parts are not believable and the transitions to the poetic piano player are more pretentious than realistic. The lead actor seems to be overwhelmed with the idea of an artsy performance, so he uses the minimalist approach. The director complements this concept with a silly, pretentious style. Another problem is the music itself, namely the piano playing. The playing style is simply not in keeping with the supposed level of the piano player. Some of the supporting roles are quite good, but the parents simply don't measure up in terms of gravitas.

I think the people who have posted rave reviews for this film have seen too many movies and are ready to go nuts if the movie is in French. Honestly, there is nothing interesting about some small time thug trying to re-establish his potential as a classical piano player. I mean come on, who cares? The character is all over the place in terms of emotions and in the end amounts to little. American film buffs who drool over Euro-trash productions and see things in them that are not there, just boggle my mind. Get outside into the sun and pull some weeds, folks, you will be doing yourself a huge favor. Stop stunting your mind with artsy, pretentious movies that you think make you look like an intellectual.