Review of Mozart's Sister

Half way through this film I started considering it as a student film that had some decent financial backing. The main lead who played Nannerl had little in the way of facial expressions and often stood around like she had been directed to stand around. The actor who played Leopold Mozart, however, was mostly effective in his portrayal of a man who believed in what he was doing, and believed it to be the best for his son and his family. The dialogue (as it was translated) was mostly without much flare, and the music score seemed to fill in the emotional gaps that neither the dialogue nor the acting was putting across. Direction fell flat most of the time with simple side-profile shots. The script itself seemed to give no indication as to where the film itself was going, as though the writer had determined that the basics of Nannerl's life was already known, so all they had to do was write some scenes around that - for me, this script just did not work. The idea that Nannerl was being eclipsed by her brother, though it was present throughout, never felt like a driving force that pushed the film forward and was a constant influence that determined Nannerl's emotions and feelings. As a result, every time a climax (with accompanying string motifs) arrived on screen, the film felt like it was preparing itself to end... and then would go on.

This isn't the worst film I've seen, and it wasn't joyless to the point of leaving the cinema; it was just simply quite boring, and non-involving for the viewer (me). I wanted it to end during several climactic moments but it didn't. Definitely far too long at 2 hours.