[Jacques] Audiard gives it all an edgy volatility as the world of small-time hustles and under-the-table scams comes back with a vicious sting.

| Dec 7, 2024

Duris is phenomenal in the lead role -- a good-looking wire ball of tightly-wound ill temper -- as are the rest of the cast.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 26, 2019

This violent film, which swept the Cesar awards (the French Oscars) this year, provides a nuanced portrait of a conflicted young man who can never completely break away from the dark world in which he has grown up.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 21, 2016

Niels Arestrup is striking as the hero's slumlord father.

| Apr 7, 2010

Relying on the enigmatic and sultry charisma of Romain Duris, The Beat My Heart Skipped is a mesmerising portrait of a man torn by two very different sides of his personality.

| Oct 18, 2008

A gritty urban romance that touches on the various fascinating ways that music and psychological states of mind interact or clash in a dissonant and chaotic modern world.

Full Review | Mar 28, 2007

A riff that will provide great pleasures to those willing to sample a molto vivace remake of Toback's cinematic ode to torment and obsession.

| Mar 1, 2007

[Duris] is pure star quality: gloweringly sexy, hypnotically unstable and needy, combining rage and vulnerability in his handsome, delicate face.

| Jan 27, 2007

Altogether, Audiard's movie hangs together better than Toback's: it's more coherent in its construction, far less arbitrary in its dialogue, and more plausible and considered in its characterisation.

| Sep 28, 2006

It's a turgid, seemingly endless trudge through Gallic angst and ennui without one memorable performance, image, line of dialogue or note of music.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | May 12, 2006

If not for Duris' amazing, thoroughly captivating performance, it's clear that De battre mon coeur s'est arrt would not come off nearly as well as it ultimately does.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 11, 2006

Simmering study of a petty hood-cum-wannabe pianist succumbing to his innate violent side -- but there might be a touch too much ivory tinkling for some.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 1, 2006

The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a work of authority, maturity and intensity that improves on Toback's original film without appearing to patronise or despise it.

| Dec 6, 2005

A hugely enjoyable, superbly directed film with a cracking script and a terrific central performance from Romain Duris.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Une rencontre entre Jacques Audiard et Romain Duris qui consacre ce dernier comme l'un des grands acteurs franais de sa gnration.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 25, 2005

Delivers its tough narrative straight and swiftly, up to its surprising but satisfying ending.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 14, 2005

It has been very well made, with the often jumpy photography and scuzzy locales that reflect the nervous energy and predatory nature of its young subject. But it also finds the time to achieve some real emotional depth.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 30, 2005

The actors' touching father-and-son exchanges barely miss a beat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 30, 2005

None of this would work without Duris' simmering performance as Tom, a person who's struggling to find his true calling.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 29, 2005

From its plot to its look, The Beat That My Heart Skipped is designed to express how it feels to be torn between two opposing worlds and passions.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2005