The Beat That My Heart Skipped

Intense young "tough" Thomas Seyr is a 28-year-old real estate broker involved in shady business deals. His business partners, Fabrice and Sami, spend much of their time ruthlessly chasing squatters and illegal immigrants out of the buildings they have procured and trying to work their way around government housing regulations. Thomas is born to this kind of work; his father, Robert, is involved in dodgy endeavors and sometimes calls upon Thomas to beat up people who refuse to pay. Tom shows a protective and defensive attitude toward his father, who does not always appreciate what his son does for him. When his father Robert introduces his new girlfriend to Tom, the son undermines her. He insults her to his father and says that she is an opportunistic "whore. Later, when he tries to enlist her help to watch over his father, she tells him they broke up due to Robert's changing his attitude toward her, and that he told her about Tom's backstabbing. By this time Robert is in danger from a Russian gangster, Minskov, who scammed him out of 300,000 euros, and Tom is worried for his safety. Tom had earlier chanced upon his late mother's manager; she was a concert pianist until her death eight years ago. The manager remembers Tom's playing for him and invites him to audition. Tom becomes obsessed with the idea of being a concert pianist. He finds a teacher newly emigrated to France, virtuoso Miao Lin, to help him prepare for the audition. She speaks only Chinese, Vietnamese, and some English. Tom misses business appointments and drops assignments while practicing piano around the clock. He also works in an affair with the wife of one of his business partners. Tom reaches the high standards of his teacher, but falls apart at the audition, after having stayed up all night helping his partners with a business deal. He goes to see his father, only to find the apartment destroyed and his father murdered. Tom is devastated. Two years later, Tom tests a piano onstage and gives directions to the stage manager. He drives Miao Lin to the concert hall and parks the car. He happens to see Minskov, who he believes killed his father. He takes Minskov by surprise waiting for an elevator. They fight in the stairwell, but at the end, Tom cannot shoot him. Tom washes in the restroom and takes his seat in the concert hall, knuckles and shirt bloody. He exchanges affectionate glances with Miao Lin at the piano, apparently her manager and partner.