The Beat that my Heart Skipped

Director Jacques Audiard reverses a trend by remaking an American film, ('Fingers') in France. In another reversal, this turns out to be a good idea. The film is about a young man, played by Romain Duris, who has followed his father into a life of low rent crime. However, his mother was a concert pianist and when he gets the opportunity to enter that world, the film really begins to move. Audiard directs superbly, moving the plot forward in an organic way, quite unlike the operatic plots that American thrillers usually adopt. And Duris is a fantastic actor, who absolutely becomes his character whenever he plays the piano. The film raises many interesting ideas about paternity and art, which you may or may not pick up on "repeat viewings are rewarding“ and it also gives a glimpse of what the future of French cinema may well be like. What more could you want? [Keir Hind]