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France · 2010
2h 0m
Director René Féret
Starring Marie Féret, Marc Barbé, Delphine Chuillot, David Moreau
Genre Drama
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A fictional account of the life of Marie Annal ‘Nannerl’ Mozart, Wolfgang’s older sister, and a musical prodigy in her own right. The focus is on the tumultuous life of the Mozart family on the road, and Wolfgang’s eventual overshadowing of Nannerl’s talents, as she is forced to submit to traditional gendered norms at the expense of her music.
Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker
Mozart's Sister is too often just one more rehashing of the "Aw, didn't women have it tough then" thematic that never forces the viewer to acknowledge that maybe they haven't got it as great as we'd like to think today.
Mozart's Sister is consequently gorgeous, with candlelit shots looking like old master paintings - a fine match for music that takes your breath away.
The film's dogged repetitions regarding Nannerl's real-life raw deal dilute the reparative nature of the story after a while, and not even the movie's grainy, retro–art-cinema look can keep viewers from gradually tuning out.
Boxoffice Magazine by Ed Schied
Writer/director René Féret tells the absorbing and ultimately tragic story of this gifted young woman now forgotten by history.
For everything that Mozart's Sister imagines, it leaves much more up to imagination.
These subplots hint at what could have been, nudging the film toward biting rather than obvious commentary on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and creativity, and the costs of thwarting expression of any of them. But Féret barely explores this, and the film suffers for it.
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
A work of fiction, Mr. Féret's film is ardent in its inventions, modest in scale, playful in its speculations about Nannerl's influence on her brother's music, and graced by the filmmaker's daughter, Marie Féret, in the title role.
What's missing from Mozart's Sister, though, is the kind of fervor that made "Amadeus" so memorable.
Feminist without the arrogance of 20-20 hindsight, vividly precise in its depiction of 18th-century pre-revolutionary France (the filmmakers were allowed to shoot inside Versailles), alive with exuberantly thesped personages and awash in the joy and power of music, the picture is a stunner.
The Hollywood Reporter by Sheri Linden
A handsome and achingly sad period piece, a finely observed portrait of cast-aside dreams. The drama is quieter and more chaste than the similarly themed "Camille Claudel," but no less haunting.
Sooner or later she'll see them, then everything will be different.