Le Concert

What at first looks like a great comedy about Russia's approach to life and everything else, violently turns in the end into cultivated kitsch and a very overly complicated attempt at drama. Some of the "ethereal" statements about the essence of music feel like threshing straw and verbal masturbation, and some shots (especially reminiscences from the gulag) like the cheapest of clichés. It's too bad, because the acting is perfect, moreover with very funny dialogues in places... However, the pursuit of soulfulness does not work with the clear parody elements, at least not in such a way as to form a coherent whole. Mihalean's talent is indisputable (the perfectly rhythmic tempo of the conclusion together with Tchaikovsky's music), but there is a feeling of disharmony and falsehood in The Concert - my ears started to hurt in the second half. It's unfortunate, because until then, I was convinced that the hackneyed clichés about outsiders who had conquered the world would bring me to my knees again. (31.03.2010)

Charismatic actors with the beautiful Mélanie Laurent in the lead, some classical music and a story about a family that Mélanie never had; and she finally finds out why. Hats off! Pleasant, but serious at the same time. It was also funny and, in some regards, original, like when the creators decide to answer a whole array of questions that had been raised throughout the movie. (15.04.2018)

Mélanie Laurent is great, that the film has a very pleasant cast and a pretty clever idea, but above all, it excellently utilizes the motifs of classical music, but the different elements of the script do not harmonize with each other, or rather, it tries to combine a crazy comedy with a melodramatic story that emotionally manipulates to the extreme. In the first 15-20 minutes, I had a great time and had no doubt about giving it a 5-star rating, but as time went on and Radu Mihaileanu increased his efforts to be touching, my favorable feeling quickly dissipated. It doesn't work. Or rather, the exaggeration on which the script is based doesn't work in combination with the tragic story it wants to tell. Overall impression: 45%. (14.09.2014)

The film has a fairly good premise, where a disgraced conductor, working as a janitor in one scene, wants to prove something seemingly crazy at first glance - to reunite musicians after thirty years and represent Russian music in Paris. Gradually, it loses its charge and absurdity and becomes quite expected and uninteresting. (11.05.2017)