The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté) (2005)
The Beat That My Heart Skipped is another from the GQ lesser-seen guy-movie list my husband and I have been checking out lately. It’s a modern noir-ish tale about a charismatic young criminal who becomes haunted by his good past as a pianist, rather than by some dark secret, though that element emerges, too. Romain Duris as Thomas is magnetic and marvelously fluid; his appearance shifts as he weaves in and out of the different roles of his life: thug, son, out-of-practice musician, and lover. Perhaps the film is a little too cool, at the expense of some emotional truth, yet it was still very enjoyable, as was director Jacques Audiard’s thriller Read My Lips. His previous films, See How They Fall and A Self-Made Hero, have been well reviewed, too.