Product Description Written, directed and produced by RenA FAret, MOZARTaS SISTER is a re-imagined account of the early life of Maria Anna aNannerla Mozart (played by Marie FAret, the directoras daughter), five years older than Wolfgang (David Moreau) and a musical prodigy in her own right. Originally the featured performer, Nannerl has given way to Wolfgang as the main attraction, as their strict but loving father Leopold (Marc Barbe) tours his talented offspring in front of the royal courts of pre-French revolution Europe. Approaching marriageable age and now forbidden to play the violin or compose, Nannerl chafes at the limitations imposed on her gender. But a friendship with the son and daughter of Louis XV offers her ways to challenge the established sexual and social order. Review BY ROGER EBERT The image that springs to mind is of the young Mozart touring the royal courts of Europe and being feted by crowned heads. He was a prodigy, a celebrity, a star. The reality was not so splendid, and even less so for his sister, Nannerl, who was older by 4½ years and also highly gifted. The family Mozart, headed by the ambitious impresario Leopold and cared for by his wife, traveled the frozen roads of the continent in carriages that jounced and rattled through long nights of broken sleep. Some royalty were happy to keep the Mozarts waiting impatiently for small payments. There was competition from other traveling prodigies none remotely as gifted as Mozart, but how much did some audiences know about music? Toilet facilities were found in the shrubbery along the roads. Still, theirs was largely a happy life, as shown in Rene Feret's Mozart's Sister, a lavishly photographed period biopic that contrasts the family's struggle with the luxuries of its patrons. Papa Mozart (Marc Barbe) was a taskmaster but a doting father. Frau Mozart (Delphine Chuillot) was warm and stable. And this is crucial: Nannerl (Marie Feret) and Wolfgang (David Moreau) loved music. They lived and breathed it. They performed with delight. The great mystery of Mozart's life (and now we must add his sister) is how such great music apparently came so easily. For them, music was not labor but play. One understandably hesitates to say Nannerl was as gifted as her brother. We will never know. She played the violin beautifully, but was discouraged by her father because it was not a woman's instrument. She composed, but was discouraged because that was not woman's work. She found her family role at the harpsichord, as Wolfgang's accompanist. The feminist point is clear to see, but Leopold was not punishing his daughter so much as adapting his family business to the solidly entrenched gender ideas of the time. There's a trenchant conversation late in the film between Nannerl and Princess Louise de France (Lisa Feret), the youngest child of Louis XV. From such different walks of life, they formed almost at first meeting a close, lifelong friendship, and shared a keen awareness of the way their choices were limited by being female. A royal princess who was not close in line to the throne (she was the 10th child), Louise had two career choices: She could marry into royalty or give herself to the church. She entered a cloistered order, and it was her good fortune to accept its restrictions joyfully. But think if we had been males! she says to Nannerl. Each could have ruled in their different spheres of life. Nannerl also has a close relationship with Louise's brother, the Dauphin prince (Clovis Fouin), a young widower. It seems to have been chaste but caring. Nannerl was always required in the wings of her brother's career, and after his death at only 35, she became the guardian of the music and the keeper of the flame. She found contentment in this role, but never self-realization. The movie is an uncommonly knowledgeable portrait of the way musical gifts could lift people of ordinary backgrounds into high circles. We hear Papa in a letter complaining about the humiliations his family experienced by tight-fisted royals (they were kept waiting two weeks as one prince went out hunting). Leopold was a publicist, a promoter, a coach, a producer. It is possible that without him, Mozart's genius might never have become known. The film focuses most closely on Nannerl, a grave-eyed beauty, whose face speaks volumes. She aspires, she dreams, she hopes, but for the most part, she is obedient to the role society has assigned her. Marie Feret, the director's daughter, is luminous in the role. --Roger Ebert RogerEbert.com
S**I
A dark movie and a demoralized protagonist
I suppose that the producers wanted to be faithful to the life and times of Nannerl, Mozart's sister, but as other reviewers noted, the plot doesn't strictly follow Nannerl's life at that age. I've read several biographies of Mozart, one of which was "Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music", by Jane Glover. Glover did mention that Nannerl befriended a female member of the aristocracy, but I've never read anywhere that she had a relationship with a crown prince of France. Nannerl is portrayed in this movie as demoralized, suppressed by her paternalistic father, and European society in general, obedient (to some extent) and very reticent. But the film would have been more interesting if there had been more humor, and if Nannerl had been a somewhat more vivacious. (However, not to the degree to which Wolfgang and Constance were portrayed in the film "Amadeus".)
A**R
Talented but the "wrong" gender
In the 2010 French film (with subtitles) "Mozart's Sister", we the viewing audience certainly get an idea of what life was like for a woman in 1700s no matter how talented she may have been. In this imaginary tale of Mozart's older sister Nanneral, Nanneral is shown as an extremely talented musician especially on the harpsichord and violin well able to perform and compose brilliantly. However, she being a woman and Wolfgang's sister was viewed, especially by her father, as greatly inferior.The events in the film occur on an imaginary concert tour the Mozart(s) took to Paris when Wolfgang was around eight (8) years old and his sister was interring puberty. The parents doted on both their children and seemed to love them greatly. Wolfgang, of course, was the "great hope" of the parents especially of his father. After all, he was male and immensely talented. All his sister could hope for was to accompany Wolfgang or to inter a nunnery. In the film, Nanneral gets a respite from reality by forming a chaste relationship with Louis XV's son. Louis XV's son becomes besotted with Nanneral and her talents having her disguise herself as a man in order to perform in the "court" and to be his "short-lived" confidant. She relishes these opportunities and adores this "freedom" and the opportunity to "show off" her own talent void of a super talented brother. But, alas, it is short lived and she has to return to being a "woman" and to the shadows of her brother."Mozart's Sister" is beautifully filmed gorgeously recreating the era. Yes, the film is rather "slow paced", to me, reflective of what life must have been like in the 18th century
B**G
Indication of a Foreign Language dvd
I think that the telling the perspective buyer that this item is in a foreign language....needs to be displayed in a more obvious manner. Just like a box pops up to tell you that a particular DVD will not PLAY in a certain zone.....telling the customer that it is a foreign language film needs to "stand out." I try to watch and notice everything. Alas, this time I made a mistake.
S**L
Beautiful film marred by postproduction
Anyone who loves classical music knows about the Mozart family in one version or another. Wolfgang's elder sister, Nannerl, was as much of a child prodigy as he; both were exhibited in hopes of fame, cash, and glory by their father Leopold (not a shabby musician himself). Nannerl is obviously the central figure of this film, that focuses on her being stifled musically by her father (the violin is not a proper instrument for a girl; few people are capable of understanding composition, certainly not women). She ends up accompanying her wunderkind brother on the ladylike harpsichord. The rest of the plot I leave to the enjoyment of the viewer.Obviously, in a film about such a family, a great deal of music is played. Almost as obviously, actors, particularly prepubescent ones, are not musicians. It is expected that the serious playing will be dubbed in by serious musicians in synch with the footage of the actors going through the motions, and this is the case with this film. Obviously. It is made even more obvious by the poor job done by the sound engineers: all of the solo parts performed by Wolfie and Nannerl come it at less than 1/3 to 1/2 of the level of the ambient sound, dialogue, and accompanying musicians. Since this production appears to be wholly owned by the Féret family, perhaps the cousin assigned to the sound board was incompetent, a great pity in an otherwise good film.
C**S
The older talented teen sister of a prodigy younger brother
French with English subtitles. Interesting and relevant story about the talented older sister, the Mozart family and the Dauphine of France, people we are familiar with, with lots of good music and good production values. None of the angst or madness of the movie about Wolfgang Amadeus, here he is younger and placid.
A**R
The other mozart
It amazes me that, amadeus mozart sister. Is still hardy known to the world. She was just as talented as her brother. As as gifted children it was more a wonderful curiosity , that a girl could play as well as a man. But as a adult she couldn't be taken seriously that a woman be just as good a man. It said that some of her work survived , other say it was lost. But we may never be sure if it did!
C**E
Good, interesting
Guess I didn't read well, subtitle movie in French. Very good though
S**E
A fine, different, thought-provoking treatment
This movie is well-written and very well acted by a high-quality cast, including several talented children & young people (meaning, actors less than 18 years old). Quite apart from the perhaps obvious fact that it includes a lot of excellent music! The movie takes place almost entirely in & around Paris; Wolfgang (‘Wolfi’) is 10 years old, the title character Anna-Maria (‘Nannerl’) is about 15. The movie focusses on Nannerl's struggle to emulate her brother, whose musical talent she shares, in musical training as well, in spite of the discrepancy in sex which, in their father's eyes, is absurdly severe. As long as one can bear in mind that, no more than Milos Forman's Amadeus, this is not a documentary (several of the events supposedly taking place during the movie actually took place years before the protagonists were born), it is extremely enjoyable. The one warning/caveat that might be worth making is that the movie is in French; English subtitles are available.
P**S
This is a great story about the early years of the little known ...
This is a great story about the early years of the little known sister of Mozart who was talented in her own right. Highly recommended for those with an interest in musical history.
A**A
Interesting
Learned a lot from it...
C**E
Mozart's Sister
A very "soupy", over-romanticized portrait of a tragic figure in the history of music.Nothing said about her vast correspondence with her more famous brother and father, little about the terrible repression she suffered as a woman.
R**D
Slower than watching grass grow
I am a movie fan and have been for years. This is the First movie that I couldn't handle...The pace was too slow and the music was very limited...I'd rather watch Amadeus over and over before spinning this movie again !
