Madame Souzatska

Shirley MacLaine delivers another memorable performance as the title character in this bittersweet story of an aging music teacher and her new student, a 15-year-old boy from India named Manek (Navin Chowdhry). Madame S., having flubbed a piano recital in her youth, transfers her own insecurities on to the young virtuoso--who is torn between the commercial pressures from a producer (Leigh Lawson) to "go commercial", his mother's whining about the family's poverty, and Madame S.'s stern admonition that if Manek appears publicly, she will wash her hands of him. Although the story seems a bit maudlin at times, the superb characterizations of the principals carry the film. Recommended.  (R. Pitman)