it have become customary for tired hollywood producer to look for european art house successes which can be remake in a more commercial style . think of cameron crow remake of abre los ojos ( open your eye ) a vanilla sky or mike nichols remake of cage aux folles . the beat that my heart skip be a rare case of the reverse happening . after the success of read my lip and french director jaques audiard turn to james tobaks 1978 harvey keitel vehicle finger and and remake it a an altogether more stylish and powerful film . tobaks film and a favourite of godard and tarranino and be often through of a some sort of lose masterpiece and have be favourably compare to taxi driver . on revisit it and i find it over plotted and over long and but an interesting and overlooked piece of cinema history all the same . the beat that my heart skip focus on thomas seyr ( a top notch performance from romain duris ) and who have follow in his father footstep and go into business at the sleazy end of the property development market . he and his colleague daily routine involves plant rat and set fire to building to drive tenant out . sometimes they resort even more direct aggression and violence in order to get their way . a chance meeting with his long dead mother piano teacher bring new mean to his life . essentially it a film about the age old oedipus concept and a thomas flit between the violent influence of his father and the artistic heritage of his mother . a he become more engrossed with his piano practice and so he be draw away from the wheeler deal lifestyle of his father and business partner . soon he be dance to a different beat . but be his piano play good enough to offer him an escape route . shade of al pachinos desire to concentrate on legitimate business in the godfather perhaps and also parallel with billy elliot a thomas go against the grain of his contemporary . after be promise an audition and thomas start visit a young vietnamese tutor and miao lin and who have recently arrive in paris on a scholarship . miao lin can not speak french and the strained communication between them parallel thomas struggle with his father and his own sense of identity . audaird wisely choose not to subtitle maio lins vietnamese dialogue to further illustrate the frustration that thomas feel . good use be make of music throughout the film and periodically switch from techno to classical to illustrate the dichotomy of thomas world . perhaps the most telling scene have thomas and hand still bruise from business dealing and tap out classical piano chord on a bar and while electronic music blare out in the background and his thuggish partner discuss how they be go to drive their next deal home . audaird be quickly be make a name for himself for turn out well craft and intelligent thriller . from tobaks source material he have retain the protagonist internal struggle with the self and tone down his misogynistic tendency and lose a subplot or two and give u a more satisfying end . now the only question leave be represent who be the best one hand piano player and keitel or duris . patrick bliss .