Sunday, 11 December 2016

Battre mon Coeur s’est Arrêté


Also Known As:
Beat that my Heart Skipped
Year:
2005
Country:
France…
Predominant Genre:
Crime
Director:
Jacques Audiard…
Best Performance:
Romain DURIS…
Premiss:
A man finds his heart and soul torn between loyalty to his family and a need to be redeemed from his violent lifestyle.
Themes:
Personal change | Self-expression
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
Fingers (1978)…
Review Format:
DVD

Leopards, Spots & Change

Unusual, interesting – if somewhat unlikely – tale of a brutal and unscrupulous property-dealing thug who yearns to change his current lifestyle to become a concert pianist.

The only way to make this sincere – and convincing – is via an intense central performance from the lead actor. And that is just what we get: Romain DURIS is an excellent performer who comes across as a hybrid of a young Robert De Niro and a youthful Daniel Day-Lewis.

However, to fully persuade us that a leopard can successfully change his spots, it is essential to explain why he is the way he is and why he would want to change. This movie assumes we already know the answers and thus only plays well to its middle-class gallery.

There is no profound elucidation of human nature here; suggesting the screenwriter can only create characters like his limited self.

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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.