Shine
Australian drama based on
Directed by Scott Hicks
Starring Geoffrey Rush
Armin Mueller-Stahl and Lynn Redgrave
Released 1996
by Live Music Head
The
story of David Helfgott is extraordinary.
And in this film,
Geoffrey Rush’s portrayal of David Helfgott is extraordinary.
From the opening scene of him running the streets in the rain,
stopping by a bar to play piano,
looking like a homeless person
and blowing the minds of the people with his talent...
Geoffrey as David is stunning.
Rush won the Best Actor Academy Award for it.
But it's Armin Mueller-Stahl who plays David’s father
that really got to me.
Set in Melbourne, Australia,
Peter Helfgott is the head of the Polish-Jewish family,
and is depicted as a domineering control freak.
With an obsession for turning his son David into the next
Sergei Rachmaninoff
(Russian pianist widely considered the finest of his day)
Peter is with his son every step of the way,
including when David performed Chopin with such intensity,
at no more than eight or nine years of age,
that the piano moved across the school competition floor.
David Helfgott’s future as a musician
looked very promising indeed.
But his father was so controlling
that he’d sooner disown his adolescent son
then allow him to grow;
to accept an invitation to study music in America.
And it was a decision that ultimately
and completely changed
the father-son relationship, and their lives,
forever.
When he got a little older,
David finally defied his father
and accepted a scholarship to
The Royal College of Music in London.
His father’s response?
“If you go,
you are no longer anyone’s son
and you will never be welcome in this house again.”
His father also said:
“You will be punished for the rest of your life.”
It appeared Peter wanted David to be a world-class pianist,
but not if it meant he couldn’t control his every move.
Tragic how obsessively controlling people can be.
Armin Mueller-Stahl was Oscar-nominated for the role.
Enter the great Sir John Gielgud,
who portrays Cyril Smith,
David’s music teacher in London.
The era is the swinging 60s,
and a perfect place for David to lose his inhibitions;
to free himself of all that had been repressed for so long,
and to grow eccentric.
Smith: “Rach 3 is monumental.
No one’s ever been mad enough to attempt Rach 3.
David: “Am I mad enough Professor? Am I?”
And in this film,
Geoffrey Rush’s portrayal of David Helfgott is extraordinary.
From the opening scene of him running the streets in the rain,
stopping by a bar to play piano,
looking like a homeless person
and blowing the minds of the people with his talent...
Geoffrey as David is stunning.
Rush won the Best Actor Academy Award for it.
But it's Armin Mueller-Stahl who plays David’s father
that really got to me.
Set in Melbourne, Australia,
Peter Helfgott is the head of the Polish-Jewish family,
and is depicted as a domineering control freak.
With an obsession for turning his son David into the next
Sergei Rachmaninoff
(Russian pianist widely considered the finest of his day)
Peter is with his son every step of the way,
including when David performed Chopin with such intensity,
at no more than eight or nine years of age,
that the piano moved across the school competition floor.
David Helfgott’s future as a musician
looked very promising indeed.
But his father was so controlling
that he’d sooner disown his adolescent son
then allow him to grow;
to accept an invitation to study music in America.
And it was a decision that ultimately
and completely changed
the father-son relationship, and their lives,
forever.
When he got a little older,
David finally defied his father
and accepted a scholarship to
The Royal College of Music in London.
His father’s response?
“If you go,
you are no longer anyone’s son
and you will never be welcome in this house again.”
His father also said:
“You will be punished for the rest of your life.”
It appeared Peter wanted David to be a world-class pianist,
but not if it meant he couldn’t control his every move.
Tragic how obsessively controlling people can be.
Armin Mueller-Stahl was Oscar-nominated for the role.
Enter the great Sir John Gielgud,
who portrays Cyril Smith,
David’s music teacher in London.
The era is the swinging 60s,
and a perfect place for David to lose his inhibitions;
to free himself of all that had been repressed for so long,
and to grow eccentric.
Smith: “Rach 3 is monumental.
No one’s ever been mad enough to attempt Rach 3.
David: “Am I mad enough Professor? Am I?”
David Helfgott won a number of awards at the college,
including the Dannreuther Prize for Best Concerto Performance
of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto.
Perhaps it was the madness of
Rach 3
that pushed him over the edge.
It was, after all,
the achievement his father so desperately wanted for him,
but was no longer a part of his life to see.
Smith: “Once you’ve done it,
nobody can ever take it away from you.”
This may have created an ocean of guilt in David that
led to his breakdown.
The guilt mixed with the genius.
He may have claimed to love him,
but David endured far too much emotional torture
at the hands of his father,
to ever be normal.
Was his father right?
Was David’s schizo-affective disorder his punishment
for leaving the family?
that pushed him over the edge.
It was, after all,
the achievement his father so desperately wanted for him,
but was no longer a part of his life to see.
Smith: “Once you’ve done it,
nobody can ever take it away from you.”
This may have created an ocean of guilt in David that
led to his breakdown.
The guilt mixed with the genius.
He may have claimed to love him,
but David endured far too much emotional torture
at the hands of his father,
to ever be normal.
Was his father right?
Was David’s schizo-affective disorder his punishment
for leaving the family?
David Helfgott was hospitalized during the 1970s,
and lived in a halfway house for years.
He was brought back in the public eye in the 1980s
when the owner of Riccardo's Wine Bar in Perth
hired him to perform there on Saturdays.
David eventually made a return to the concert stage
in a big way, and to this day,
lives his life as a professional musician.
Like so many biopics,
it's difficult to know for certain the complete accuracy
of all the events depicted,
considering the reported dispute between David's real mother
and the director for how her husband is portrayed.
But this look back is based on the story shown in the film.
And it’s a story not much
different than
Ludwig van Beethoven’s.
Both are pianists.
Both born of abusive fathers.
Beethoven lost his hearing.
David lost his mind.
The real David Helfgott told
Scott Hicks
that he refers to himself as
“a damaged person”.
David may have lost his mind,
but upon doing so,
it seemed the enthusiasm he
couldn’t express
as a child
sprang forth like a tidal
wave as a grown man,
especially after he found his
true love (Lynn Redgrave).
Don’t expect to watch this
film and not have
the story of David Helfgott live
in your heart forever.
Bravo David, bravo!
The trailer for Shine...
