Madame Sousatzka

Running time: N/A

John Schlesinger's Madame Sousatzka can probably be placed in Cinequest's Produced and Abandoned series this year, as it is certainly one of those rare masterpieces to which the studios did not give proper attention. It may seem at first to be another teacher/student film leading to that big test or, in this case, a concert and the growth of a child. But Schlesinger's masterful storytelling ability proves otherwise. In one of the best role of her career, Shirley MacLaine portrays the multi-leveled Madame with complete and total awareness of character. Madame, herself, is emotionally crippled by her early traumatic failure on stage. Her students enter her life to learn the piano only to eventually break from her teachings when she over-protectively refuses to admit they are ready to play publicly. That is until her newest student, Manek, shows up and opens the vault Madame has so precariously kept locked. Madame Sousatzka is not a film about success or failure; it is a story about soldiering on, about continuing to do your best, day after day, simply because you believe in yourself no matter what anyone else thinks. But most of all, Madame Sousatzka is a film that loves music and people and has the patience to do justice to both. --Mike Rabehl