Mozart's Sister (2010)

That was an excellent one.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Mozart, that legendary impresario, had an sibling who actually helped write a lot of his early work, and got precisely no credit for it... due to the sexist society at the time. She was also a brilliant violinist, but was forced to play the harpsichord by her father as the violin 'was no instrument for a lady.' Meanwhile, everyone mooned over her brother, the 'child prodigy', leaving her completely in the shade. In fact, a lot of what she could have achieved she didn't thanks to the patriarchal beliefs back in the 18th century, and by the sound of the epilogue she had a pretty miserable life after she gave up on all her hopes and dreams. Nice.How much of this has a basis in reality I don't know, but I suspect there's a fair bit of airbrushing of history here. What can't be denied though, is this is a well acted drama of family ties and unfulfilled potential, full of wonderful classical music and handsome costumes. This is strictly a placid affair... You're not going to see any fireworks going off, and some people may find it all a bit too stagy. But Nannerl is a captivating lead, and while her story might not be 100% accurate as depicted here, it's well worth investing the nearly two hours to discover it. And isn't that really what matters, at the end of the day? 6/10

It's difficult for me to see a film like this as a professional musician without seeing red at the same time. No, I'm not expecting a slavish rehash of history - far from it -but it wandered so far from reality as to remind me of films such as "Song to Remember" with Cornel Wilde swinging through the grapevines and playing the frail, tubercular Chopin at the same time.Leopold Mozart, despite the general feeling that he pushed his children unmercifully, was actually trying to help his children become established in the world and to prevent his son from squandering his money as he was always tempted to do. In fact poor Wolfgang was buried in a pauper's grave after his father died.The music in the film is another bone of contention. Instead of using something from the immense amount of music Wolfgang composed as background, it substituted a fake Classical imitation with romantic harmonies and orchestration that really wasn't good to begin with.As for the ultra-low lighting we associate with "le film noir' or crime shows currently on television, we had to depend too often on dialog alone to guide us through what was happening. I realize that filming interiors with candles was period but even people sitting next to them were mainly in the dark. I know this is handy for not having to provide full period sets in detail but still I felt cheated.This is a French work, nonetheless, and as so many French films are prone to do, it talks itself to death.Curtis Stotlar

The title explains all the things wrong with it I'll explain all of them in more specific detail First off this film ends in complete mid-air, this is not somebody asking for a "Happy Ending" like in so many of our movies today. The movie doesn't end happily like in American movies today nor does it have a sad ending and tie up all the loose ends (the one movie that immediately comes to mind is that German Nosferatu remake).Second off The fact that Mozart fanatics will enjoy might make people say "what the hell? Isn't that what Mozart movies target audience is?" well, no the true signs of a good adaptation or any other style movie documenting almost true events is if the people behind it can turn audiences who don't know that much about it into fans.Finally the Too long for it's own benefit, The movie has a refusal to be interesting in places and that made the movie seem much longer than it actually was and that made it seem too long for it's own benefit.The plot to sound basic is that on a tour arranged by Leopold Mozart to show off his son's talent to royalty, eventually Nannerl falls in love with The Dauphin Of France, only problem is he's getting married. After some irrelevant scenes finally the wife says she loves him and he pretty much tells Nannerl to leave and never come back.I have an Achronism I feel as if I should point out in this movie. Nannerl Mozart was born in 1751, Wolfgang in 1756. The movie is set in 1763 and throughout they say Nannerl is 15 Mozart is 10, in order to be correct this movie should be set in 1766.I think that Amadeus would be a better film to watch than this.

I'm very surprised by the low ratings this film has received, particularly for those who found it boring. To the contrary, I did not want the film to end, intrigued by every twist and turn. I won't recount the plot. Instead, I felt the entire cast was excellent, each subtly, but powerfully, portraying the tensions their character face. In Barbé's Leopold Mozart we see a loving, but ambitious and selfish father, unwilling to challenge the social conventions of his time. In Marie Féret's Nannerl we see a young woman struggling with her desire to express herself and be recognised, but captive to her sense of obedience to the multiple characters to whom she is subordinate, and the challenges of coming-of-age in a domineering family. Her struggles are matched by her melancholy expressions in which even happiness comes at a bittersweet price.There is no over-acting, but instead excellent direction. I don't believe that production values were low, given the costumes, the locations and the excellent cast. Instead I think the director chose to tell a real (although fictionalised) story rather than to glamourise and over-dramatise. The coldness of the European winters was brought to life, and gave the viewer some sense of what it would have been like without modern comforts and luxury for the Mozart family, and matched the sombre and sad story perfectly. I would like to see more films like this.