Thirty years ago, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov, the renowned conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra, was fired for hiring Jewish musicians. Now a mere cleaning man at the Bolshoi, he learns by accident that the Chatelet Theater in Paris has invited the Bolshoi orchestra to play there. He decides to gather together his former musicians and to perform in Paris in the place of the current Bolshoi orchestra. He wants a young violinist virtuoso, Anne-Marie Jacquet, to accompany his old Jewish or Gypsy musicians. If they all overcome the hardships ahead this very special concert will be a triumph.
D**K
The Dubbed Version has the Original Version!
I bought this from Amazon and thought that the US Version only came Dubbed in English. I now have discovered that the US Version does indeed have the Original Version, Here's where you can find it:Go to Settings: then choose AUDIO Options; Choose French/Russian. Then resume movie. The key to this is the default is set to the Dubbed version.In the Original version you hear the Actors voices. The Film is subtle and quiet in creating these characters. It says so much that as you watch this film, you realize you are watching something very special, even magical. It is that powerful in its emotional impact. This is not only rare, but something we only see as an exception that is exceptional.The Dubbed version is poor at best and all the magic is drained out. Whoever did this took nothing from the original version. If you want to do a comparison, look at the way the main character and his wife interact together. In the Original it is real love in the quiet way they talk to each other. The Dubbed version never comes close.So in Closing this review, I owe an apology to the ARC Entertainment that put out this US Version, but to be honest, they did not say that the Original version is on the disc. Even Amazon had no idea and that's where I tried the European version. That DVD is set up correctly, but as Region 2, you need a DVD Player that plays all regions. So yes, this is a wonderful film and , no, you are not stuck with the Dubbed version, As I said before.....The Russian/French version is absolutely 5 stars.
A**2
best film
One of the best films I have ever seen. The suspense builds up to the concert at the end; seems impossible to happen; meanwhile the secret of Anne Marie (Melanie Laurent, one of the most beautiful women in the world), is beginning to leak out, despite efforts to conceal. In the final concert her brilliant violin awakens the long gone skills of the orchestra, who play beautifully. She is amazed at her own playing as she is coming to realize that she is actually the daughter of Lea, now long dead in the Gulag, and she is (perhaps, point is not clear) the daughter of this amazing Russian maestro she is playing for and with. All this is conveyed without words, only by expression and gesture, a brilliant performance. Anne Marie finally realizes she is Jewish, she is Russian, her soul is Tchaikovsky, her mother was the famous Lea, and this maestro (I believe) is her never known father. She dissolves in tears of joy at the end. How can one not cry with her? Watch this film and pray for better subtitles or maybe an English version
Q**E
A music movie not to miss!
Andrei Filipov was a gifted conductor for the Bolshoi Orchestra. 30 years later he is working as a janitor at the Bolshoi. What happened? When he refused to fire Jewish members of the orchestra while conductor, he was ousted by the Communists. Now 30 years later he is out to reclaim his orchestra and his life. He intercepts a fax for the Bolshoi and decides to put together his own orchestra to play at a theater in Paris. This story is part comedy and part heart felt emotion as he looks up old musical buddies, finds musical instruments and a soloist to go to Paris passing his orchestra off as the official Bolshoi orchestra. There are many funny parts and some bittersweet moments as he tries to reclaim the glory of 30 years ago. Can he pull it off? Get the movie and find out. I loved the story and the music and think that you will too.
D**E
Prepare for ALL corners of your heart to be touched !!!
Do you love to laugh? We got it! Do you love history and politics? We got it! Do you love watching a Russian and French 'reality show' filled with real people? We got it! Do you love feeling your heart and throat swell with emotion? We definitely have got it in this film!I don't know where they got the story but I died laughing at the broad humor and caricature that was used in portraying the Russians in the beginning of the movie. Having MANY close Russian friends and having traveled to many Russian cities, I couldn't help but get choked with emotion and laughter at this look inside Russia today. If you understand about modern Russian weddings, you might chuckle the hardest through that scene and the Novy Russki.There are twists and turns that are unexpected and surprising. There is a sense at one point that the film is moving away from the broad humor to a more serious vein. It never gets heavy or ponderous but instead, like a flower opening from a bud to a full-blown flower, you begin to see and appreciate deeper human emotions and though the actors' experiences might not have been your own, their parts are acted in such a way that you feel emotion right along with them. The cinematography is very interesting and presents flashbacks in a way that I have never seen but was very effective!I watched this in a large theater of senior citizens in south Florida. Various parts of the room laughed at Jewish jokes, French jokes, and we all laughed at the antics of the Russians. Even though the film was spoken in Russian and French with English subtitles, I thought the subtitles were very well done. Sometimes foreign films either don't give you time to read the words by flashing them by too fast or they display them against inappropriate backgrounds making them virtually impossible to read. I thought these subtitles were some of the best I've ever seen; thanks!!!The ONLY reason I didn't give this film 5 stars is because it is not Gone With the Wind or Dr. Zhivago or Lawrence of Arabia or even Elvira Madigan. How about 4.5 stars? It certainly deserves that!!!Buy this film and enjoy its sweet humanity. It has yearnings and dreams that we can all understand. You will truly find after watching it that ALL the corners of your heart have been wonderfully touched.
