Which Jacques Dutronc song inspired the title of the film?

Wednesday October 31, 2025 at 9:05 p.m., France 5 broadcasts the film by Jacques Audiard My heart stopped beating. But did you notice that the director had borrowed the title from the lyrics of a song by Jacques Dutronc?

Jacques Audiard only has ten feature films to his credit but, with each new production, the filmmaker creates an event. He proved it in 2024 with Emilia Pereza new genre of French phenomenon which allowed actresses Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz to win the Best Actress Award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The film also won seven Césars and two Oscars in 2025. And going back further in time, we can only see that each of its films has received a rave reception, whether The Olympics filmed in full confinement and released in 2021, The Brothers Sisters in 2018, Of rust and bone in 2012 or even A Prophetthe film that revealed Tahar Rahim in 2009. My heart stopped beatingreleased in cinemas in 2005 and broadcast on Wednesday October 31, 2025 at 9:05 p.m. on France 5, is no exception to the rule, since it won eight Césars, including best film and best director.

What does the film say? My heart stopped beating with Romain Duris and Niels Arestrup?

In My heart stopped beatingRomain Duris plays Thomas Seyr, known as Tom, a young rogue real estate wolf, just like his father, Robert, played by Niels Arestrup. The 28-year-old young man leads a troubled life, between often very harsh and merciless evictions of tenants and schemes of all kinds. One evening, he meets Mr. Fox by chance, his mother’s former impresario, a deceased virtuoso pianist. The latter, remembering that he had once considered being a concert artist, suggested that he audition. The opportunity for Tom to, perhaps, start a new life and see his dream of becoming a musician finally come true… He then seriously gets back to practicing the scales with his tutor, Miao-lin. Obviously, classical music plays a central place in the plot of My heart stopped beating, and in particular a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, the toccata in E minor BWV 914, of which Tom stubbornly repeats the first bars of the adagio in order to prepare for his audition. However, it was a completely different musical style that inspired Jacques Audiard for the title of his film.

This song by Jacques Dutronc which inspired the title of the film My heart stopped beating

Indeed, fans of French song have surely noticed that these words are taken from Santa’s Daughter by Jacques Dutronc. “I found her early in the morning / All naked in my big shoes / Placed in front of the fireplace / No need to draw a picture for you / My heartbeat stopped / On the bed I threw my whip / I leaned against her / And her beauty made me mute“, sang Thomas Dutronc’s father in 1966.