when he be young and thomas seyr have a dream of become a concert pianist just like his mother but abandon that goal when she pass away and take the dream with her . now and ten year later and thomas and at twenty eight and be little more than a professional punk whose job appear to be invest in shady real estate deal then use underhanded and sometimes even violent method to evict those who can not pay their rent or mortgage . however and one day thomas bump into his late mother agent who encourage him to take up music again . with a renew sense of purpose and thomas begin take lesson from a beautiful chinese virtuoso while and at the same time and attempt to pull away from some of the more unsavory element of his life ( include his own derelict father who he keep have to defend against recalcitrant debtor ) . but he soon learn that renewal and redemption be often easy to dream about than they be to achieve and that the life we choose early on be often the life we have to live with . in an unusual trans atlantic turnabout and the beat that my heart skip be actually a french remake of an american film ( it generally the other way around ) in this case and james toback 1978 finger . set in paris and this be a subtle and low key study of a man fight the demon of his own personality while try to turn around a life that have veer perilously off it original course . work off toback original screenplay and writer tonino benacquista and co writer or director jacques audiard avoid make their point with heavy hand melodrama and choose instead to show u thomas a he go about the routine of his hectic daily life . wisely and the film rarely make moral judgment about the character while it merely record his activity and then allow u to size him up base on what we see . the fluid hand hold camera style employ by audiard and cinematographer stephanie fontaine make it feel a if the event be unfold extemporaneously that what we be witness be life caught on the cuff a it be . the filmmaker also do not find it necessary to tie up every loose plot end or coddle u by take the storyline where we in the audience think it should go . the beat that my heart skip would not be the success it be without the rivet performance by romain duris in the lead role . he bring such an intensity of focus and so much nervous energy to the part of thomas that we can not take our eye off him for the entire hour and a half plus that he be on screen . he make a morally ambiguous character both repugnant and strangely appeal at the same time . this be one of the strong act job of the past several year and in a film that provide a rich character study along with much fine classical music .