Audiard / 2005 / France (subtitled) / 35mm / 107 min / cert 15
(Fri 6th-Sat 7th & Mon 9th / 7pm / £2)

Thomas Seyr (Romain Duris) plays a felonious yet generous partner in a small time real estate scam involving shady trade off deals and forced evictions. In a bizarre twist, an encounter with his dead mother's concert manager brings to the surface a suppressed desire to succeed as a classical pianist. In order to prepare for an audition he takes on a teacher called Miao Lin, a recent immigrant who speaks no French and their shared understanding of music becomes the sole form of communication between them. Tussling with his father's and partner's influences, our anti-hero's internal duality spills out into his dealings as he tries to steer his life away from criminality towards self fulfillment, with mixed results.

Writer-director Jacques Audiard and co-writer Tonino Benacquista adapted this feature from the 1970's film Fingers starring Harvey Keitel. Far more satisfying than any of the gangster dross UK has churned our in the past five or so years, as well as a great dissection of the value of music and creativity.