Cast :
Shirley MacLaine - Mme. Irina Sousatzka
Navin Chowdhry - Manek Sen
Peggy Ashcroft - Lady Emily
Twiggy - Jenny
Shabana Azmi - Sushila Sen
Navin Chowdhry - Manek Sen
Peggy Ashcroft - Lady Emily
Twiggy - Jenny
Shabana Azmi - Sushila Sen
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. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Director John Schlesinger reins in Shirley MacLaine's penchant for scenery-chewing in this story of a young piano prodigy (Navin Chowdhry) and his eccentric mentor. There's very little scenery for MacLaine to chew: set against the drab backdrop of London's suburbs, the film divides its time among the many characters in the boy's life, from his opportunistic mother (Shabana Azmi) to Sousatzka's leggy neighbor (Twiggy). Ultimately, Sousatzka is a parable pitting old world values against new world pressures, but Schlesinger and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (best known for her Merchant-Ivory adaptations) refrain from the treacly, teacher-pupil sermonizing of To Sir, with Love or the later Mr. Holland's Opus. The result is a refreshingly smaller film than most of MacLaine's Hollywood work, which may explain why the perennial Oscar nominee was passed over that year. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi