
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990                   TAG: 9003172337
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FILM IS MORE THAN BEAUTIFUL MUSIC

"The Music Teacher" may best be described as civilized entertainment - the kind of picture that's lovely to look at and listen to. Though there are potent plot elements in this movie set against the world of classical music at the turn of the century - old scores to settle and new loves to complicate matters - they're handled gently. For that matter, some of the situations cry out for more melodrama than they're rationed.

Jose Van Dam, an actor of immense dignity, plays Joachim, the music teacher of the title. Joachim is more than a teacher, though. He's the greatest singer of his generation. When he abruptly retires, the music world is buzzing with speculation. But Joachim, played with intriguing complexity by Van Dam, refuses to divulge the reason. However, it's quickly apparent that he's taken on a single pupil - a lovely singer of 18 played by Anne Roussel.

Joachim's accompanist and companion of many years informs both the teacher and the young girl that they will fall in love with each other and they do. The companion, played by Sylvie Fennec, has gone through the same sort of relationship with Joachim.

Into this situation set in Joachim's grand country house comes Jean (Philippe Volter). A thief who likes to sing in the streets, Jean catches Joachim's ear. On the run from an angry mob, Jean is rescued by Joachim - who decides he needs another pupil. There are some implausibilities in this movie - Joachim has a knack for bumping into people he believes will have the greatest voices of their generation. But they don't disturb the lyric way the story unfolds.

As it turns out, Joachim has an arch enemy - a nobleman who once thought he could out-sing Joachim and lost his voice trying. The nobleman pitches a contest each year and invites Joachim's students to participate hoping to humiliate his old enemy because Jean is expected to lose to the nobleman's protege - dueling tenors, it turns out.

Directed by Gerard Corbiau, "The Music Teacher" is full of music by Mahler, Verdi, Mozart, Schumann and Schubert. Much of the movie takes place against a back drop of lovely French countryside and the look of the movie reflects the picture-pretty photography the French like to bring to such period films.

The acting is uniformly fine: Roussel is charming as the girl who has fallen in love with the older man; Volter starts off as a rogue and convincingly transforms himself into a good guy; and Van Dam brings a striking grandeur to the role of a man who has a profound understanding of his artistic ability.

\ `The Music Teacher' An Orion Classic in French with subtitles at the Grandin Theatre (345-6177). Rated PG for one bedroom scene. An hour and 40 minutes long.

by CNB