''Heartbeat Detector'' (french: La Question Humaine) is a 2007 French film directed by Nicolas Klotz and starring

Mathieu Amalric Mathieu Amalric (; born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film '' Quantum of Solace'', in which he played the lead villain, Steven Spielberg's ''Munich'', Wes An ...

. The film is based on the 2000 novel by François Emmanuel.

Plot

The film centers on Kessler, a psychologist in the

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...

department of the French branch of a long-established German firm. The firm has recently dismissed 50% of its workforce on criteria devised by Kessler. Rose, the vice-president of the company, requests Kessler to look into whether Jüst, the CEO is fit to do his job. The CEO discovers Kessler is investigating him and tells him that Rose, whose previous name was Kraus, has a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

past. Kessler then discovers that Jüst's father headed a Nazi extermination group on the Eastern Front during World War II. Jews placed in the back of a closed truck were killed with the truck's exhaust gas. A device called a 'heartbeat detector' was then applied to discover any who had survived. Tormented by this memory Jüst attempts suicide. The action then shifts from the company's politics to

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. An analogy is drawn between the desubjectivized corporate language used in downsizing and that used in the Nazi chain of command.

Cast

as Simon Kessler * Michael Lonsdale as Mathias Jüst * Laetitia Spigarelli as Louisa * Delphine Chuillot as Isabelle *

Édith Scob Édith Scob (21 October 1937 – 26 June 2019) was a French film and theatre actress, best known for her role as the daughter with a disfigured face in '' Eyes Without a Face'' (1960). Early life and family Scob was born Édith Helena Vladimirov ...

as Lucy Jüst *

Jean-Pierre Kalfon Jean-Pierre Kalfon (born 30 October 1938) is a French actor and singer. Selected filmography External links * 1938 births Living people French male film actors French male television actors Male actors from Paris French male stage a ...

as Karl Rose * Rémy Carpentier as Jacques Paolini

Reception

The film has been considered in ''Film Comment'' as "a response to and comment on the present—the era of neoliberal capitalism, industrial downsizing, and the displaced and disaffected who do, or don’t, manage to adjust." Other scholars pointed out how the film suggests a provocative parallel between neoliberal capitalism and the technical ideology that underpinned the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Trivia

There are two consecutive performances that the main character watches, one by a flamenco singer,

Miguel Poveda Miguel Ángel Poveda León (born 13 February 1973) is a Spanish flamenco singer known by his stage name Miguel Poveda. Biography Born in Barcelona, Spain, his father is from Lorca in Murcia and his mother from Puertollano ( Castilla-La Mancha ...

, the other by a Portuguese group.

Awards and nominations

* Copenhagen Film Festival (Denmark) **Won: Golden Swan – Best Actor (Mathieu Amalric) *

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

(France) **Nominated: Best Actor – Supporting Role (Michael Lonsdale) * Gijón Film Festival (Spain) **Won: Best Actor (Mathieu Amalric) **Won: Best Art Direction (Antoine Platteau) **Nominated: Grand Prix Asturias – Best Feature (Nicolas Klotz) * São Paulo Film Festival (Brazil) **Won: Critics Award – International (Nicolas Klotz)

Festivals

Director's Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festi ...

External links

*
Interview with Mathieu Amalric and Nicolas Klotz
from evene.fr
Review
at the Chicago International Film Festival site.
Review
from ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

''
Analysis
from ''

Film Comment ''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...

References

2007 films 2007 drama films French drama films 2000s French-language films 2000s French films {{2000s-France-film-stub