MovieChat Forums > De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (2005) Discussion > i met the director....thief

i met the director....thief

posted 16 years ago by anthony-w-burkett
9 replies | jump to latest

i went to florida state university and they played the film and did a Q&A session with the director jacques audiard. he was a cool dude and surprisingly spoke english fairly well. he did mention the controversy surrounding this film. apparently, the film is a complete rip off of (he gave no credit to...) the film "fingers" starring harvey keitel. as much as i liked audiard...after watching "fingers" i realized that he had indeed stolen the entire premise of the other film...i do like this better than "fingers" though. the lead actor is better than keitel.

[–] bethsuek 16 years ago

The credits state that this movie is based on Fingers. I've also read several pieces about the movie where he speaks openly of the relationship between the two films. So how does he not give it credit?

[–] dustnation 16 years ago

I thought this was way, way better than "fingers". And the end credits do give credit to Toback. It's also regarded as one of the first international remakes of an american film.

none.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cornelia123 15 years ago

They were very lucky in gettng such a great performance from Romain Duris.

[–] pfvll-2 15 years ago

A director is rarely 'lucky' in getting a good performance from an actor. It's part of a director's skill set - choosing the right actor for the job, deciding when to leave him alone and when to suggest what sort of performance is needed, creating the right atmosphere that instills confidence in the actors and crew.

Jacques Audiard, with this one film, has earned his place in the long line of superb, idiomatic French directors.

How does a country with such a relatively small audience base (compared with American, English and Indian film markets) produce so many directors whose work is of such high quality and instantly recognisable on screen?

[–] jackenapes 15 years ago

do a tiny bit of research before making such STUPID, unfounded claims like this and calling a director a thief, you moron.

i dunno, maybe even go so far as to actually WATCH the film you're commenting on and you'll see that in the 7th title card of the end credits it says in French: "based on the film 'Fingers' written and directed by James Tobak." it's called a remake. happens every day in the US. that was the whole concept of Audiard's film: to remake an American film that he didn't think was very good. how could you listen to the q&a with him and not pick up on that? it's the first thing he talks about in all of the extra features on the DVD.

what's sad is that it's uninformed and idiotic comments like yours that make up the majority of the thread postings on imdb.

[–] Cantante 15 years ago

I agree with everyone. I don't see how he could have given any more credit to Fingers. In every interview i've watched, read with Jacques Audiard he always mentions how he was inspired by Fingers (1978) although he is not there to pay homage to the film he was inspired by the themes in it. Although i must disagree with the statement that Audiard didnt think Fingers was a good film. I'm currently watching an interview and he said that when he watched it for the first and only time it left a very inspiring impression on it although if he were to watch it now for the first time he wouldnt think much of it.

'It makes you wonder how many things exist just because people believe in them'

[–] DaVooz 15 years ago

Well in art you are a thief when you take someones idea and claim it to be your own.
A remake is like a musicband playing a cover. It is not original, but it is also not a theft (plagery is that the word?). If he speaks about it openly, no doubt business deals have been made with the rights to the script etc before turning it into a movieproject as in music is done with royalties. Since it was a Q&A (which is BTW an interesting Sidney Lumet film) you should have stepped up and ask the director about that?!

[–] Beau_Buffet 8 years ago

i realized that he had indeed stolen the entire premise of the other film

It's called a remake. The movie Fingers is credited at the end.

Look for yourself: http://i.imgur.com/0h5i0CI.png