Shirley Maclaine portrays an aging piano tutor with some very strict ideas about the purity of her service and the pitfalls of ambition, in an original coming-of-age drama set against the highbrow world of classical music instruction. As an eccentric (what else?) Russian émigré in an offbeat London household, Maclaine plays the role of a fussy perfectionist to perfection, showering her naive new pupil (a gifted Anglo-Indian prodigy with more talent than wisdom) with stern maternal affection, and guarding him against the crass, commercial ambitions of his mother. Not even the clumsy expository flashbacks or a romantic subplot involving Twiggy can dim the luster of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's perceptive screenplay, which in between selections from Beethoven and Chopin explores the widening gap between art and commerce, in both music and life. Director John Schlesinger doesn't need to add much more than a series of slow camera pans over candle-lit rooms, but he manages to generate more tension than otherwise might be expected from the piano recital climax, during which the young student is forced to choose between a lifelong vocation and a lucrative career.

Shirley MacLaine's Golden Globe winning performance was matched by India's gorgeous star actress, Shabana Azmi's as Sushila Sen. MacLaine's part is that of a reputably in high demand local piano teacher who takes younger piano prodigies to the brink of their entrance into public performances. Then, the big name men piano professors get a stronghold on them. Madame Sousatzka remains in the shadows as the one who truly molded them into great musical performers.It's interesting that India's Shabana Azmi is hardly even mentioned as a best supporting actress though her part was to be the mother of one such piano prodigy who Sousatzka molded. A mother who baked & baked to earn the money for her son's piano lessons.The plot, director, acting, actors, music, sets, lighting, editing & costumes are all very well done. In a world where every other word has to be bleeped because it's cursing, this film is refreshing and suitable to hold the interest of refined adults & children, especially ones interested in musical careers.

Madame Sousatska is a story of the collision of worlds: British vs. Indian, art vs. business, artist vs. non-artist, and most importantly, adult vs. child.Manek Sen (Navin Chowdhry) is the bright, gifted child of a poor Indian immigrant, Shushita (Shabana Azmi). Shushita, a rich and powerful woman until her divorce, gets by providing Indian food to department stores in London. Realizing that Manek has real talent, and may be able to have a career as a concert pianist, she pushes him to work on his music. Ultimately, Manek comes to the attention of Irina Sousatska (Shirley MacLaine), one of the best teachers in London. She agrees to take Manek on as a student, and vows to teach him about life while she's at it, which puts her at odds with Shushita. Coming to her flat in a crumbling house in London, Manek enters her world, and meets the people who share the house with her. He develops a particular fondness for Jenny (Twiggy), a model dating Ronnie Blum (Leigh Lawson), a concert promoter who takes an interest in booking Manek for a concert appearance with a symphony orchestra. Madame Sousatska is dead set against this since her own concert career was derailed when she was pushed to perform in public before she was ready. When Manek decides to go ahead with the concert, she refuses to teach him anymore, but when Manek triumphs, she wants to help guide him. Will he continue to work with her, or go on to work with Leo Milev (Robert Rietty)? It's an interesting premise, handled deftly. Madame Sousatska claims that life and art are all wound up together and can't be separated, and the movie does a good job of showing this. Particularly well handled is Madame Sousatska's back story, which is told through a series of short flashbacks, presenting only the information pertinent to the plot, rather than her whole life story. Manek is shown having a hard time reconciling being a teenager with being an artist in training. And Shushita is shown as not quite accepting that she is not the most important thing in Manek's life.The acting was first rate. Chowdhry does an excellent job in creating the character of Manek, showing all of the facets to the youth. Twiggy gives a sweet performance as a likable woman longing for a man who treats her badly, and not realizing just how deep Manek's emotions for her run. Lawson is perfect as the smarmy concert promoter. Azmi's Shushita is annoyingly self-absorbed, and clearly more interested in exploiting her son than in raising him. MacLaine sparkles as Sousatska, although she can't seem to decide which accent she is going to use for her character, and her continual switching between them is distracting. Still, it's a solid performance that more than carries the movie.This a lovely movie, a treat for the ears as well as the eyes. And it shows that devotion to one's art, while it does have its rewards, also has its costs.

Shirley MacLaine once said as a joke in an interview that "not more than ten people saw the movie"! Well, I am lucky to claim that I was one of the ten and rate it as my top ten movie of all time! The acting is flawless!I own the LD copy of the movie and am hoping to see the DVD format being available soon. This is such a gem that it would be a shame if it's not released on DVD format to share with the world of what great movies are made of! One final word to describe this movie: Beautiful