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Heartbeat Detector

Play trailer Poster for Heartbeat Detector 2007 2h 20m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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80% Tomatometer 25 Reviews 48% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Psychiatrist and corporate efficiency expert Simon Kessler (Mathieu Amalric) is contacted in secret by Karl Rose (Jean-Pierre Kalfon), a board member at German chemical giant SC Farb. Rose assigns Kessler to investigate the mental stability -- or lack thereof -- of the company's CEO, Mathias Jüst (Michael Lonsdale), a man whose increasingly unpredictable behavior has become cause for concern. As Kessler looks deeper into Jüst's life, he discovers that his unhinged target may have Nazi ties.
Heartbeat Detector

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Gripping and provocative psychological thriller about corporate responsibility remains tense throughout and despite its long running time.

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Critics Reviews

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Steve Rose Guardian 10/18/2008
4/5
There's no killer revelation, just a graceful telescoping of past into present and a steadily accumulating dread. Go to Full Review
Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com 07/09/2008
Heartbeat Detector works on so many levels at once that its power is difficult to capture. Go to Full Review
Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune 07/03/2008
3/4
As driven by linguistics and euphemism as this film is, it's also a slippery and wonderfully acted drama%u2014Michael Clayton with a far more troubling moral landscape. Go to Full Review
Grant Watson Fiction Machine 08/13/2024
8/10
Drama with an extraordinary sense of menace and atmosphere. Go to Full Review
Nora Lee Mandel Film-Forward.com 12/14/2008
8/10
Cold and intellectual philosophical exposé of how European capitalism developed out of fascism through a mystery story of "corporate soldiers" intrigue. Go to Full Review
Jim Lane Sacramento News & Review 08/07/2008
1/5
At just under two-and-a-half hours, the movie is a horrible bore. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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08/28/2015 A good idea poorly executed. Mathieu Amalric plays the staff psychologist as a large European corporation. He was pivotal in deciding which employees to cut in a recent downsizing and has found his power and influence in the corporation increasing. The deputy director approaches him with a clandestine assignment ... keep tabs on the CEO (Michael Lonsdale), who's behavior has become increasingly erratic. This leads him down a path to increasingly disturbing revelations about the company. The film is really long and glacially placed, so much so I confess I stopped caring about what was happening long before anything interesting was revealed. See more 06/26/2012 The human "question", or the human "issue", though slightly self-indulgent, pierces the heart with melancholic poetry and washed out photography. It points to the elephant in the room: the coldness of the monster inside all of us. Not for people in denial of the human condition. See more 05/04/2012 Un excellent film "français" Et ils sont rares de nos jours. See more 03/25/2012 one of my favourite things is to watch a film like this one without any idea what it is and this french drama doesn't disappoint. See more 07/06/2011 Un film d'une lenteur étouffant, chaque plan dure au moins 10 secondes, c'est un pamphlet, on se demande s'ils sont vraiment sérieux quand ils en arrivent à faire une liaison entre le nazisme et les entreprises, le film est vide, et quand, enfin, après 2h30 de calvaire (qui en paraissent plus, on croit que c'est fini mais non, malgré l'écran noir, on entend encore la voix d'amalric (qui malgré sa performance ne sauve pas ce navet) qui continue à parler, pendant 5 minutes ... Ce film n'est pas réussi pour la simple et bonne raison, que l'on s'ennuie et que l'on a envie de quitter la salle. En revanche j'ai bien aimé les scènes de rev party (qui nous ont réveillé en sursaut) ... See more 07/06/2011 Un film francais qui a passe sous le silence mais qui est en realite un chef-d'oeuvre. Le rhytme est lent et si vous ne ne lisez pas entre les lignes, vous ne ferez pas le parralele entre les partiques corporatives modernes de liscenciement et la bureaucratisation de la solution finale.Et oui pour la premiere fois de ma vie j'ai pleure au debut d'un generique... See more Read all reviews
Heartbeat Detector

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Movie Info

Synopsis Psychiatrist and corporate efficiency expert Simon Kessler (Mathieu Amalric) is contacted in secret by Karl Rose (Jean-Pierre Kalfon), a board member at German chemical giant SC Farb. Rose assigns Kessler to investigate the mental stability -- or lack thereof -- of the company's CEO, Mathias Jüst (Michael Lonsdale), a man whose increasingly unpredictable behavior has become cause for concern. As Kessler looks deeper into Jüst's life, he discovers that his unhinged target may have Nazi ties.
Director
Nicolas Klotz
Screenwriter
Elisabeth Perceval, François Emmanuel
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Canadian French
Box Office (Gross USA)
$5.3K
Runtime
2h 20m