The Beat That My Heart Skipped

The gripping tale from Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) boasts a compelling performance by Romain Duris. 28-year-old Tom leads a life that might be termed as criminal - following in his father’s footsteps in the sleazy and sometimes brutal world of the real-estate business. Tom is a pretty hard-boiled guy, witty and sexy, but also strangely considerate. Somehow he appears to have arrived at a critical juncture in his life whereby, as the son, he takes it upon himself to become his parents' educator. One day, a chance encounter leads him to believe that he might become, like his mother, a concert pianist. He senses that this might be his final opportunity to take his life in hand. He starts in earnest to prepare for the audition with a virtuoso Chinese pianist who has recently come to live in France. Music is the only language they have in common. But before long, pressures from the ugly world of his day job soon becomes more than he can handle - and Tom's bid to be a better person means that he begins to yearn for true love. But when he finally has the chance of winning his best friend’s wife - a woman he has desired for years - his passion only succeeds in scaring her. And then his dubious past comes to light.