Madame Sousatzka

Set in London, Madame Sousatzka centres on an eccentric piano teacher of Russian background who takes on a gifted teenage pupil, Manek Sen, the son of a Bengali immigrant family. She demands discipline from her students in every part of their lives, not only at the keyboard, and the two form a close, intense bond. Manek's mother competes with the teacher for influence over her son, while the question of whether he is ready to perform publicly pushes the relationship toward a breaking point.

John Schlesinger directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, working from Bernice Rubens's novel. It was his tenth film as director, arriving between The Believers and Pacific Heights, and his second collaboration with the writer. Robin Dalton produced for Universal Pictures and Cineplex-Odeon Films. Shirley MacLaine plays Madame Sousatzka, with Navin Chowdhry as Manek, Shabana Azmi as his mother, and Peggy Ashcroft, Twiggy and Leigh Lawson in supporting roles.

The film was released in October 1988 and runs 122 minutes. It took about 4 million dollars worldwide, a modest figure for a drama of its length and cast. On IMDb it holds 6.6/10 from roughly 1,800 votes, and on TMDB 6.9/10 from a small number of votes, suggesting limited but generally favourable audience response. Critics' reviews average 6/10 across 18 notices, broadly in line with how viewers received it.