MOZART’S SISTER DEPICTS HER HARD LIFE, BUT FILMVIEWERS ALSO SUFFER DURING THE BIOPIC
Although the biography of Nannerl Mozart is worthy of a film, the wooden acting and plodding screenplay are not even redeemed by magnificent musical refrains. All that remains of note is the costuming. The director, René Féret, dooms the production by writing stilted dialog. He also chooses his daughter, Marie, to play the title role despite her inability to present a winning personality. For the record, the story is about the fate of Nannerl Mozart who at the age of 14 goes to Paris with her father Léopold (played by Marc Barbé), mother Anna Marie (played by Delphine Chuillot), and brother 11-year-old Wolfgang (played by David Moreau). Nannerl has musical talent, having cowritten some of Wolfgang’s earliest compositions. She plays the keyboard and violin, but Léopold discourages here from both composing and playing the violin due to the sexist stereotyping of the period. In any case, Nannerl impresses the Dauphin (Louis XV) and leaves the musical tour featuring her brother to become a music teacher in Paris. After the Dauphin (played by Clovis Fouin) is betrothed to a princess, he bans Nannerl from the court. Soon, the Mozarts return to Vienna. Titles at the end indicate some details of her later life, in which her most significant accomplishment was to collect Wolfgang’s many compositions for posterity after his death. The production is reminiscent of another dud, Mahler (1974), a film that focused on Gustav Mahler’s wife Anna. But when that story was later assigned to acclaimed director Bruce Beresford, the resulting Bride of the Wind (2001) was extraordinary. So there may be hope for the story in the future and its important feminist message. MH