Heartbeat Detector ( La question humaine ) ( The Human Question (Heart beat Detector) )

Heartbeat Detector (DVD) (*)

$22.99

Original Title: La question humaine
Alternate Title: The Human Question (Heart beat Detector)
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Ceasar Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
135 min + 66 min extras

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 2007 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Nicolas Klotz

Written By:
François Emmanuel
Elisabeth Perceval

Actors:
Mathieu Amalric ..... Simon
Michael Lonsdale ..... Mathias Jüst
Edith Scob ..... Lucy Jüst
Lou Castel ..... Arie Neumann
Jean-Pierre Kalfon ..... Karl Rose
Valérie Dréville ..... Lynn Sanderson
Laetitia Spigarelli ..... Louisa
Delphine Chuillot ..... Isabelle
Nicolas Maury ..... Tavera
Rémy Carpentier ..... Jacques Paolini
Louis Aguettant ..... Le chanteur de fado
Mathieu Césarsky ..... Hurleur 2
Jessica Cohen ..... La jeune fille qui chante
Cyrille Kervestin ..... Walter
Mamadou Steve Koundio ..... Le travesti africain

Synopsis:

As a Parisian petrochemical company forges on into the 21st century, the in-house human resources psychologist leads a probe that proves the ghosts of the previous century still hold sway over current events in director Nicolas Klotz's labyrinthine drama. Simon (Mathieu Amalric) is a human resources worker who has spent the last seven years working at the Paris branch of a powerful German-based company called SC Farb. In addition to assessing the hiring and firing practices of the company, Simon was also charged with the task of conducting motivational workshops. When Assistant Director Karl Rose (Jean-Pierre Kalfon) implores Simon to conduct a clandestine assessment of firm director Mathias Jüst's (Michael Lonsdale) mental health after rumors of erratic behavior begin to circulate in the German head office, the shrewd human resources worker forms a factory orchestra as a means of stealthily gauging the stability of his violin-playing subject. Later, a comprehensive investigation of company archives and anonymous letters begin to snake ominously back in time to the darkest days of World War II.

The strange investigation by Simon, a psychologist working in Human Resources for the Parisian subsidiary of a German multinational. Specialist in role play, motivational seminars and evaluation aimed at restructuring, Simon is asked by the director of the subsidiary Karl Rose, a liberal through and through, to investigate Mathias Jüst, a director general who is suspected of being mentally unstable. Weighing up a possible power struggle between the two men, the psychologist will, bit by bit, uncover a culture of denouncement and surveillance. Resembling the elements of an enigmatic puzzle bringing back the horrors of the nazi period, Simon will discover worrying links between the nazis methods and those of the personal departments in modern big business.

Heartbeat Detector is an immersive corporate thriller in which Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell And The Butterfly) plays Simon Kessler, an in-house corporate psychologist, who is asked to investigate the erratic behaviour of the company CEO (Michael Lonsdale). His investigations take him under the skin of his company, and its neutral corporate language, to dark, Caché-style transgressions.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 03 February, 2011.