Gin soaked girl goes to the cinema

'The beat that my heart skipped' is a wonderful French film by director Jacques Audiard, who has updated an earlier film 'Fingers' from 1978. Going to see this film is one of those serendipitous spur of the moment things initiated by my friend vodkaslut. Everything works amazingly well- getting to the cinema (Odean Covent Garden, by far the best Odean in London because it's comparitively cheap and show a preponderance of Indie flicks), meeting up (just as I'm about to get the tickets vodkaslut turns up); and finally the film.

The film is about a young man (typically French, a bundle of nervous energy and internal conflict) who can't decide between a life of crime as an aspiring property-magnate come bully-boy, and a life of culture and artistry as a concert pianist. His loyalties are constantly divided and he finds it difficult to commit 100% to anything. His love life is equally complicated and he oscillates between the affections of his best friend's wife, the girlfriend of a gangster associate of his father, and his glacial Chinese piano coach. It's a difficult problem which may people will identify with I think!

One of the most interesting things about the film is the relationship between the father and son- Tom and his father have a passionate and highly-strung relationship which brings both parties into mortal danger. They love each other, but at the same time, the relationship is poison. The ending sees Tom come to terms with his past but resists giving the audience everything tied up in a neat package. However this is good from GSG's point of view as it's good to see a film where the audience isn't pandered to like a needy child.

Anyone who's ever had a disturbed night's sleep just before an important exam/interview/audition will also empathise with the main character as his old associates try to wreck his newly acquired sense of tranquility and drag him away to evict some squatters the night before his big chance to break free. My enjoyment of this part of the film was however spoilt by an inconsiderate, um, fellow patron, who's mobile phone lit up like a cannon at at the crucial moment- I HATE people who don't turn off their mobiles in the cinema. I'm using the word HATE here with forethought and intent.

Highly recommended.