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      Heartbeat Detector

      2007 2 hr. 20 min. Drama List
      80% 25 Reviews Tomatometer 48% 500+ Ratings Audience Score 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. Read More Read Less
      Heartbeat Detector

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      Critics Consensus

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

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      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member 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. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Un excellent film "français" Et ils sont rares de nos jours. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member 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) ... Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member 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... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Melissa Anderson Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Steve Rose Guardian There's no killer revelation, just a graceful telescoping of past into present and a steadily accumulating dread. Rated: 4/5 Oct 18, 2008 Full Review Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com Heartbeat Detector works on so many levels at once that its power is difficult to capture. Jul 9, 2008 Full Review Nora Lee Mandel Film-Forward.com Cold and intellectual philosophical exposé of how European capitalism developed out of fascism through a mystery story of "corporate soldiers" intrigue. Rated: 8/10 Dec 14, 2008 Full Review Jim Lane Sacramento News & Review At just under two-and-a-half hours, the movie is a horrible bore. Rated: 1/5 Aug 7, 2008 Full Review Matthew Turner ViewLondon An intriguing thriller with strong performances and a dense, complex script. Rated: 3/5 May 15, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

      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
      French (Canada)
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $5.3K