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| Tookey's Review |
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| Pro Reviews |
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| Mixed Reviews |
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| Anti Reviews |
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| Cast |
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| Released: |
1996 |
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| Genre: |
DRAMA
BIOPIC
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| Origin: |
Australia |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
105 |
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The true story of an eccentric genius, Australian concert pianist David Helfgott, who triumphed over mental illness to find love and success with the help of a good woman (Lynn Redgrave).
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Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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But it’s no sentimental, disease-of-the-week TV movie, thanks to Jan Sardi’s intelligent script, Scott Hicks’s sensitive direction, and an array of outstanding performances, with Googie Withers and John Gielgud at the head of a strong supporting cast.
It’s also a tragic tale of how destructive a father’s love can be. David’s sternly competitive, Jewish father (brilliantly played by Armin Mueller-Stahl) tortures himself mentally for the loss of his own musical ambitions and relations in the Holocaust. In refusing to let his son “destroy” the family by going overseas to study, he unintentionally tortures this sweet-natured boy, so guiltily aware that he can never satisfy his father’s expectations or fulfil his own musical talent, without escaping from his father’s boa-constrictor embrace.
David Helfgott is luminously portrayed by all three actors playing him, especially Noah Taylor (the wonderful young actor from Flirting and The Year My Voice Broke) and stage actor Geoffrey Rush (pictured), in one of the most extraordinary big-screen debuts for years. Both deserve Oscar nominations for their shared role, and if you enjoy thoughtful films or love classical music, I would advise you strongly not to miss this. It’s a biopic on a par with My Left Foot and An Angel at My Table : heartfelt, powerful, emotionally raw, uplifting.
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“I would like to thank all those people who were happy to bankroll the film as long as I wasn’t in it.”
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| (Geoffrey Rush, accepting the Best Actor Oscar for Shine) |
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, David (young man) ..... Noah Taylor 
