tom seyr ( romain duris ) be a nattily dress 28 year old parisian real estate debt enforcer who work for his father ( niels arestrup ) and a sleazy housing profiteer . seyr and his low life buddy and fabrice ( jonathan zacca ) and sami ( gilles cohen ) and acquire property for resale at a profit and make certain by any mean necessary include violence that all squatter be remove . when a chance encounter open the possibility for the opportunity for tom to become a concert pianist like his mother and he find that break away from his past be not so easy . winner of eight césar award include best film and best director and jacques audiard the beat that my heart skip be a loose remake of james toback finger star harvey keitel . in finger and keitel play the son of a gangster and a concert pianist who be tear between the efficiency of his father profession and the passion of his deceased mother . the beat that my heart skip be shoot with dark color to create a mood of forebode . it be not all atmosphere and however . audiard use disorient jump cut and bizarre camera angle and and a hand hold camera close to the character anatomy to create a frenetic pace and energy to spare . romain duris and a young french actor load with talent and charisma and play the tightly wound seyr with manic intensity . he be an operator on the low level and beat up restaurant proprietor that be delinquent in their bill and unleash rat in a tenement to drive out the squatter . he seem to relish the job he be ask to do but still dream of become a concert pianist . when he run into his mother former concert manager and ( sandy whitelaw ) he ask for the opportunity for an audition and then engage a petite chinese piano teacher miao lin ( linh dan pham ) to assess his ability . since he do not speak chinese and she do not speak french and the film could have be call read my lip ii . miao be a civilizing influence and try to stop seyr from attack the piano a if he be club a tenant behind in his rent but can not put a lid on his temperament . their relationship develop slowly but erupt a both explode in frustration at his inability to follow instruction or master bach toccata . to make life even more complicated and he be have an affair with his best friend wife and and also brazenly seduce a mobster girlfriend . while continue to develop his artistic sensibility and seyr carry out his father suggestion to take care of recalcitrant payee and presumably out of love or guilt or both . he be very protective of his father and do not refuse his request and though he have little respect for him and tell him that the woman he be think of marrying be a whore . when seyr agree to take on minskov ( anton yakovlev ) and a russian mafia bos who do not keep his promise and it be clear that he be in over his head and he begin to rethink his relationship with his father . audiard capture the character nervous intensity and bring the macho sub culture of paris to life and yet the film lack any semblance of warmth . the beat that my heart skip be about choice and the willingness to change our direction in life and we relate to seyr struggle with different side of his personality . while duris performance ring with a fundamental honesty and i find it difficult to locate a common humanity with this dark and shady man . his cold and abrasive personality and the film gratuitous violence make this portrait of the artist a a young hoodlum difficult to embrace . somehow thuggery against poor people and the humanity of beethoven or mozart seem incompatible . while there be a lot to admire here and for me it be a film that my heart skip .