Madame Sousatzka

Madame Sousatzka is a 1988 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Bernice Rubens. Bengali immigrant Sushila Sen (Shabana Azmi) lives in London with her son Manek (Navin Chowdhry) who is musically gifted. She supports them both as a caterer of Indian food, while Manek studies the piano with Madame Sousatzka (Shirley MacLaine), who is a Russian-American immigrant. Madame Sousatzka, while highly talented, never succeeded as a pianist and thus lives through her students, particularly talented ones such as Manek. Manek is soon forced to choose between Madame Sousatzka and his mother who both compete for his attention.Bernice Rubens based her book on the experiences of her brother Harold Rubens, a child prodigy pianist, and his teacher Madame Maria Levinskaya, who inspired the character of Madame Souzatzka. Harold Rubens was born in Cardiff, Wales, UK in 1918, to parents of Latvian descent....