Mozart's Sister: movie review
Who knows how many more great female artists there might have been if societies of previous centuries had been more accepting of their artistry? 鈥�Mozart鈥檚 Sister鈥� focuses on 15-year-old Maria Anna 鈥淣annerl鈥� Mozart (Marie F茅ret), Wolfgang鈥檚 older sister, who, like her prodigious brother, was taken around by their father L茅opold (Marc Barb茅) to perform before the royal courts of Europe. A gifted violinist and pianist, Nannerl, who outlived Wolfgang (David Moreau) by almost 40 years, may also have composed music, though none survives.
From this raw material, writer-director Ren茅 F茅ret has fashioned a fiction imagining a friendship between Nannerl and the daughter (Lisa F茅ret) and the dauphin (Clovis Fouin) of Louis XV. Nannerl, who initially disguises herself as a boy, mesmerizes the dauphin, who induces her to compose chamber music for him 鈥� which she does seemingly on the spot, despite lacking formal compositional skills. Since Leopold forbade Nannerl to compose music or play the violin 鈥� 鈥渘ot an instrument for a girl鈥� 鈥� her foray into the handsome dauphin鈥檚 good graces is liberating for her on many levels.
As speculative storytelling goes, 鈥淢ozart鈥檚 Sister鈥� is ingenious but as moviemaking it鈥檚 plodding. The period recreations (some of the film was shot in Versailles) are far more expressive than the acting, especially Marie F茅ret鈥檚. (She鈥檚 the director鈥檚 daughter, as is Lisa F茅ret.) Little Wolfgang doesn鈥檛 have much to do in the film except act rascally in between bouts of virtuouso violin playing. With his wild shock of hair and leery grimace, he looks like he might grow into Mick Jagger. Grade: C (Unrated.)
