Madame Sousatzka

2/5/2025

Luckily for “Manek” (Navin Chowdhry), he has a school teacher who knows a prodigy when she sees one, and so recommends to his recently single-mother “Sushila” (Shabana Azmi) that she send him to the eponymous piano teacher (Shirley MacLaine). She’s rather an eccentric woman but she instantly recognises that this lad has skills - and, that he has a few issues too. As his home life becomes more strained and his mum’s business goes down the tubes he begins to lose focus. That’s only made worse by her upstairs neighbour “Jenny” (Twiggy) with whom he becomes just a little bit obsessed. It may be that the rapport between teacher and pupil and a forthcoming chance to prove his mastery of the piano on a grand scale are the necessary steps “Manek” needs to take as he nears an adulthood he craves? I