Le Concert

It's been a few years since I went to the cinema on my own. Infact, it must be pre-Germany, when I worked for UGC. Or Cineworld. Whatever it is now. I find it a bit daunting going in and sitting by myself, but I was having a look at the website for one of the cinemas at the harbour and I read a review for 'Le Concert' (trailer is in Russian and French and sometimes with French subtitles, so good luck! You can also read about it at IMDB.com). 

I'm so, so glad I saw this film. Okay, it's subtitled and the last subtitled film I watched was probably for some inane German class. It's also in French and Russian so I had little, if any, hope in understanding it. At least with German and Spanish films I had vague ideas about what was going on without having to read everything that was being said. 

It starts off in Russia where a former conductor, Andrei, is now working as a cleaner in the theatre where he used to lead one of Moscow's foremost orchestras, the Bolshoi. He was fired thirty years prior to this for allowing Jews to perform, including the lead violinist. He intercepts a fax meant for his boss inviting the current Bolshoi orchestra to perform in Paris due to a last minute cancellation and decides to band together musicians that he worked with three decades ago, including his best friend, who is hilarious, Sacha. Cut a long story slightly shorter, they make it to Paris and enlist one of the world's most popular violinists, Anne-Marie Jacquet, played by Mélanie Laurent, to play Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major (First Movement here).

I won't spoil it any further for you, because I'm seriously recommending it to everyone. Especially to classical music fans. It's heartbreaking and beautiful and a lot funnier than I imagined it would be. Shocker, I cried a little, but then, it's not the first time that a piece of classical music has moved me to tears.

Moreover, I've decided that I'm going to take up the piano again when I come home. Grade 7, you will be mine! And  also because I want to learn how to play some of Chopin's Nocturnes. Although now, I kinda want to learn the violin. And listen to a lot of Tchaikovsky. And I really, really want to see that film again!!

xx