WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Michael Neumann Shirley Maclaine portrays an aging piano tutor with some very strict ideas about the purity of her service and the pitfalls of ambition, in an original coming-of-age drama set against the highbrow world of classical music instruction. As an eccentric (what else?) Russian émigré in an offbeat London household, Maclaine plays the role of a fussy perfectionist to perfection, showering her naive new pupil (a gifted Anglo-Indian prodigy with more talent than wisdom) with stern maternal affection, and guarding him against the crass, commercial ambitions of his mother. Not even the clumsy expository flashbacks or a romantic subplot involving Twiggy can dim the luster of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's perceptive screenplay, which in between selections from Beethoven and Chopin explores the widening gap between art and commerce, in both music and life. Director John Schlesinger doesn't need to add much more than a series of slow camera pans over candle-lit rooms, but he manages to generate more tension than otherwise might be expected from the piano recital climax, during which the young student is forced to choose between a lifelong vocation and a lucrative career.

edwagreen Shirley MacLaine gave an effective, splendid performance in this film dealing with an imperious music teacher and the relationship she developed with an Indian student.Taking place in England, Mme. Sousatzka is a difficult woman trying to live life through her Indian student. Life, as we know it, has passed the Madame by. Flashbacks show a difficult mother. Once Sousatzka becomes your teacher, she totally throws herself into the lives of those she taught. You are taught not only to play but feel music as well throughout your body.We have a very interesting cast in this film. The late Dame Peggy Ashcroft appears as the landlady and of all people, Twiggy portrays a tenant in the rooming-house where Sousatzka lives with the group while teaching music. Again, we see the decline of a neighborhood and those wanting to buy Ashcroft out.Music was certainly one of the many things in Shirley MacLaine's long career. Remember her in What A Way to Go? and The Turning Point? Too bad that Shirley didn't garner another Oscar nomination for her performance here. The make-up artist working on her did a fabulous job. There were actually some scenes that I thought she resembled Carol Burnett's Norma Desmond of 'Sunset' fame. This is a strong character study of a woman whose life has passed her by. Dedicated to the teaching of music, she allowed herself to be totally immersed in it.

create Madame Sousatzka is one of those coming of age to win the big competition films; albeit, the kid doesn't come of age (that will be his next step) and there is no competition. And the lovable, eccentric coach is the maddening, overbearing piano teacher, Madame Sousatzka. Sushila and Manek Sen, an immigrant Indian family, moves to London. Sushila, the mother, supports her son, Manek, by cooking pastries for an upscale department store out of her cramped kitchen. Manek is a raw child prodigy of the piano. For years, Sushila has been funding Manek's studies by selling off her family heirlooms. They hook up with Madame Sousatzka, one of the top piano teachers in London. She has issues, however. She smothers her students. She has an "art for art's sake" philosophy, and she doesn't believe that her students should seek commerce for their skills. And she tries to hide her students from the world. Through flashbacks, she relives her failed career through her students.I just finished watching this film for the second time--the first since 1988. It holds up really well. Shirley MacLaine, who plays the title role, gives one of her best performances. She is neither showy nor mannered, in a role that was too easy to devolve into both. Navin Chowdhry (Manek) seems like a natural at the piano. His part calls for him to be cocky and nervous, all at the same time. And he does it quite well. And the supporting roles from Twiggey to Peggy Ashcroft seem to hit the right chords. There is a lot of great music in it. And the direction and the pace of the film are swift. I think if the film would have spent too much time talking about music, I would've been bored. As it is directed, I was captured by all the pieces played.Finally, I couldn't help but notice that Ruth Praweer Jhabvala adapted this piece. (I, in fact, researched this film to find out who wrote it.) It's the work between A Room with a View and Howard's End. It really shows off her style of writing. There is this great sense of time and space of modern day London here, as there was in early twentieth century London in Howard's End. And dangerous intimacies seem to be a subject she likes tackling in all three films.Overall, Madame Sousatzka is well worth the two hours.

dwr246 Madame Sousatska is a story of the collision of worlds: British vs. Indian, art vs. business, artist vs. non-artist, and most importantly, adult vs. child.Manek Sen (Navin Chowdhry) is the bright, gifted child of a poor Indian immigrant, Shushita (Shabana Azmi). Shushita, a rich and powerful woman until her divorce, gets by providing Indian food to department stores in London. Realizing that Manek has real talent, and may be able to have a career as a concert pianist, she pushes him to work on his music. Ultimately, Manek comes to the attention of Irina Sousatska (Shirley MacLaine), one of the best teachers in London. She agrees to take Manek on as a student, and vows to teach him about life while she's at it, which puts her at odds with Shushita. Coming to her flat in a crumbling house in London, Manek enters her world, and meets the people who share the house with her. He develops a particular fondness for Jenny (Twiggy), a model dating Ronnie Blum (Leigh Lawson), a concert promoter who takes an interest in booking Manek for a concert appearance with a symphony orchestra. Madame Sousatska is dead set against this since her own concert career was derailed when she was pushed to perform in public before she was ready. When Manek decides to go ahead with the concert, she refuses to teach him anymore, but when Manek triumphs, she wants to help guide him. Will he continue to work with her, or go on to work with Leo Milev (Robert Rietty)? It's an interesting premise, handled deftly. Madame Sousatska claims that life and art are all wound up together and can't be separated, and the movie does a good job of showing this. Particularly well handled is Madame Sousatska's back story, which is told through a series of short flashbacks, presenting only the information pertinent to the plot, rather than her whole life story. Manek is shown having a hard time reconciling being a teenager with being an artist in training. And Shushita is shown as not quite accepting that she is not the most important thing in Manek's life.The acting was first rate. Chowdhry does an excellent job in creating the character of Manek, showing all of the facets to the youth. Twiggy gives a sweet performance as a likable woman longing for a man who treats her badly, and not realizing just how deep Manek's emotions for her run. Lawson is perfect as the smarmy concert promoter. Azmi's Shushita is annoyingly self-absorbed, and clearly more interested in exploiting her son than in raising him. MacLaine sparkles as Sousatska, although she can't seem to decide which accent she is going to use for her character, and her continual switching between them is distracting. Still, it's a solid performance that more than carries the movie.This a lovely movie, a treat for the ears as well as the eyes. And it shows that devotion to one's art, while it does have its rewards, also has its costs.