Plot
A re-imagined account of the early life of Maria Anna 'Nannerl' Mozart, five years older than Wolfgang and a musical prodigy in her own right.

Release Year: 2010

Rating: 6.2/10 (289 voted)

Critic's Score: 71/100

Director: René Féret

Stars: Marie Féret, Marc Barbé, Delphine Chuillot

Storyline
Beginning in 1763, the film follows the Mozart family's exhausting life on the road, traveling by coach from one royal court to the next, where the nobility marvel at young Wolfgang's prodigious talent. But accomplished singer, harpsichordist, violinist Nannerl, Wolfgang's elder by five years, first held forth as the family's infant prodigy. At the film begins, she is still performing, though overshadowed and sidelined as accompanist by Wolfgang's growing fame. Her father bows to social strictures "for her own good," refusing to let her continue with the violin or compose, while privately conceding Nannerl's talent to his wife. No longer a precocious tot, Nannerl chafes at the limitations imposed by her gender and frets about her prospects.

Cast:
Marie Féret - Nannerl Mozart
Marc Barbé - Léopold Mozart
Delphine Chuillot - Anna-Maria Mozart
David Moreau - Wolfgang Mozart
Clovis Fouin - Le Dauphin
Lisa Féret - Louise de France
Adèle Leprêtre - Victoire de France
Valentine Duval - Sophie de France
Dominique Marcas - La mère abbesse
Mona Heftre - Madame Van Eyck
Salomé Stévenin - Isabelle d'Aubusson
Nicolas Giraud - Maître de musique Versailles
Arthur Tos - Hugues le Tourneur
Océane Jubert - Marie-Josèphe de Saxe
Julien Féret - Maître de musique abbaye

Official Website: Music Box Films [United States] | Official site [France] |

Release Date: 9 June 2010

Filming Locations: Abbaye de Valloires, Argoules, Somme, France

Opening Weekend: €108,749 (France) (13 June 2010) (60 Screens)

Gross: $706,622 (USA) (19 February 2012)

Wonderful, subtly rich film capturing a heartbreakingly unfulfilled talent

Rating: 9/10

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.

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