L'enfant prodige

I am very upset to have lived so many years, and paying attention to music, yet never have until now heard about the story of André Mathieu.

Apart from that shock, what surprised me was how much I enjoyed the craft of filmmaking in this work, apart from the compelling nature of the story itself.

So much appreciation for all the behind the scenes craftspeople on this precious project.

The audience for this film is multi-levels and I barely know where to begin.

For example, it is an inspiration to any young person to take a craft and work at it with devotion.

For society in general, it inspires a commentary as to where we apply resources: to life or to destruction?

In the esoteric world of music composition, the Greek gods of Neptune and Ouranos are placed before us with their arguments.

Rachmaninov wept when he heard this young boy play. Both were steeped, as it were, in Neptunian worldview.

But the Uranians held sway in this era. Combine this with a monetary system and basic survival becomes a paramount issue. What a tragedy for our human species, and so needlessly.

With the internet as it is going these days, the late Mr. Mathieu has the risk of going viral. I wish he would be here to enjoy it.

Buy the DVD !!

This is a fine film about the real life of a piano player and composer, Quebec-born Andre Mathieu.

If you see a boy who started his education at the earliest age, being well taught by his father, having his first concert at age 5 *(Yes, like W. A. Mozart), being recognized by Serguei Rachmaninof himself, who had raving concerts at Juilliard and Paris' Chopin hall, what would you think he would turn out to be? A famous composer, probably.

Well, this real life story make you feel the anguish and intensity of a concert when you are just a boy and your parents are depending on you for ... survival. Some scenes inside of the piano, shown in parallel of Andre playing show us the intricacies of how the rapturous sounds we hear are made.

I would have liked to see and understand a bit why, how the child prodigy becomes the adult pianoton player, how the two "stages" of the protagonist's life connect. At that I agree with Dorning "Francophone fan", who writes on Amazon: "with no real progression of events, no real reason why. Domineering mother? Misunderstood composer?". Also a bit more about his ignored sister Camillette, and his parent's personalities, besides the manipulating mother and frustrated father. The Couteau quote in the beginning, or the phrase by the mother: "we marry not out of love, but to escape our parent's home" (said in front of her husband) may be clues, but... Both Rodolphe and Andre mention frequently the fight between "composer" and pianist/ virtuoso. This inner struggle is enough to drive a bright man to booze? I am not that sure. The two women of his life, Colette Ostiguy and his estrange wife, are beautiful and supportive, but the first one has the age of her mother (...), we never get to know what happened to the second one, and besides that, they both knew him when he already had a drinking problem, so again, it's not that. Finally, Cécile Lebel, the major's wife, a woman of influence, only tries to help him. So it's not his parents, neither love. From what I understood, Andre suffered a neurotic unsolved conflict between what he once was and the grim realities of a piano player. I'm open to reader's suggestions! Personally I can't see how somebody whose compositions won over Berstein's while beeng about 10 can not have public just escapes me.

Marc Labrèche, yes, from one of the funniest TV series ever, "Le coeur a ses raisons", shows his full range as an actor here, but this shouldn't surprise us I guess. Beautiful Macha Grenon plays Andre's domineering mum, and Zaccari-Charles Jobin is very natural as a child prodigy with enough maturity and poise to tell his anxious parents, right before his big Paris concert: "Mum is too nervous" :).

The film is studded with famous Canadian actors. Mitsou plays a woman he met at his popular concerts, for instance. I didn't understand much the "Pipo" character (the young pianola street player). Wilfrid Pelletier, his father's former pupil who became a great orchestra director in NY, Mr. Hutcheson from Juillard, the French agent, Marcel de Valmalète ... You end up hating them all :). Another good thing is the piano played by Alain Lefèvre, the same performer of the CDs you can obtain of his works on the web.

Enjoy!