Madame Sousatzka

Critics Consensus

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78%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 18

66%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 345
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Movie Info

Shirley MacLaine is Madame Sousatzka, an aging piano instructor of Russian extraction. Entrenched in a dilapidated London rooming house, the Madame gives lessons only to the most gifted. She does not stop at mere instruction; Sousatzka insists that her pupils conduct their lives in the same genteel, cultured manner in which she was raised. Her prize student at the moment is an East Indian teenage boy (Navin Chowdhry), who forms a strong and loving bond with the old woman. Director John Schlesinger occasionally cuts away from the Madame and her pupil to allow comic space for the other tenants in Ashcroft's building, including an erstwhile songstress (Twiggy) and a gay osteopath (Geoffrey Baydlon). Navim Chowdhry's mother is played by Shabana Azmi, an important star of Indian films.

Cast

Shirley MacLaine
as Madame Yuvline Sousatzka
Navin Chowdhry
as Manek Sen
Navin Chowdry
Peggy Ashcroft
as Lady Emily
Twiggy
as Jenny
Shabana Azmi
as Sushila
Leigh Lawson
as Blum
Geoffrey Bayldon
as Mr. Cordle
Lee Montague
as Vincent Pick
Robert Rietty
as Leo Milev
Jeremy Sinden
as Woodford
Roger Hammond
as Lefranc
Sam Howard
as Edward
Christopher Adey
as Conductor
Cheryl Miller
as Black Schoolgirl
Barry Douglas
as Pianist at Portman Hall
Mohammed Ashiq
as Sunil
Carol Gillies
as Sousatzka's Mother
Roland Curram
as Menswear Salesman
Katherine Schlesinger
as Piano Student
Elizabeth Hayes
as Piano Student
Humphrey Burton
as Festival Announcer
Vernon Dobtcheff
as Music Critic
Peter-Hugo Daly
as Roadie
Jean Anderson
as Lady with Removal Men
Stephen Webber
as School Teacher
Charubala Chokshi
as 1st Punjabi Lady
Sam Smart
as Street Youth
Susan Porrett
as Receptionist
Andrew St. Clair
as Festival Mime Artist
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Critic Reviews for Madame Sousatzka

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (4)

View All Critic Reviews (18)

Audience Reviews for Madame Sousatzka

  • Oct 26, 2012
    A piano teacher and a prodigy's mother vie for the pupil's devotion. In the canon of teacher films, this provides a new category, the pedagogy of self-abnegation. Madame Sausatzka has an unfortunate string of pupils who learn from her then leave her. During their instruction she uses the basic tough love methods that we've come to expect from films of this ilk, and like <i>To Sir with Love</i>, which is the ultimate tough-love educator film, she forms an emotional bond with her students. But when she's left, she feels emptier, like a jilted lover. The film doesn't condemn her teaching methods; in fact it celebrates them because she emerges as an educator-hero, one who has sacrificed for the greater good. I don't like the message, but I think it's interesting. Shirley MacLaine gives a very good performance, an abrasive attitude mixed with an inner pain. Navin Chowdhry is also very good, giving one of the better performance I've seen from a child actor. The film's plot unfolds slowly, and it isn't until late in the second act that its pedagogical philosophy becomes clear. I also had no idea what was going on with the house in which Sousatzka was entrenched; I got that it was condemned or something, but the specifics of the problem and its solution failed to be a compelling plotline. Also, the subplot between Manek and Jenny was poorly set up. Overall, I didn't like a lot about how the film was structured, but its basic idea is quite interesting.
    Jim H Super Reviewer
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