Cast: Nastassja Kinski, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Goldwyn, Kelly Endresz-Banlaki, Ági Bánfalvy, Zsuzsa Czinkóczi, Balázs Galkó
Director: Eva Gardos
Producers: Colleen Camp, Bonnie Timmermann
Screenplay: Eva Gardos
Cinematography: Elemér Ragályi
Music: Cliff Eidelman
U.S. Distributor: Paramount Classics
In English and Hungarian with subtitles
For her feature debut behind the camera, writer/director Eva Gardos has elected to present a heartfelt account of her youth. The result, An American Rhapsody, is highlighted by a powerful lead performance from Scarlett Johansson and strong support from Nastassja Kinski and Tony Goldwyn, and spans the years between 1950 and 1965, telling the affecting (but not sappy) tale of a girl whose normal need to rebel is intensified by a lack of roots and confusion about her own identity. With the exception of the final scene, which doesn't ring true and is covered with a "happily ever after" sheen, this is a fine period piece drama that speaks strongly to the emotions without ignoring the intellect.
An American Rhapsody opens in 1965, with American-raised teenager Suzanne (Johansson) standing on the Chain Bridge in Budapest and saying in a voiceover, "I was 15 and my life was already falling apart, so I came back to Hungary, where it all began." With those words, the film transports us through time to the beginning, via an extended flashback. Suzanne is a baby and her mother, Margit (Kinski), and father, Peter (Goldwyn), facing persecution and arrest, decide to flee the country. Because their journey will be difficult, they cannot take Suzanne with them, but make arrangements for her to be brought to them in Vienna several days later. But circumstances conspire to keep the child in Hungary, where she grows up as the daughter of foster parents, Teri (Zsuzsa Czinkóczi) and Jeno (Balázs Galkó). Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Margit and Peter begin to make a life for themselves and their elder daughter, all the while planning ways to get Suzanne to join them.
The opportunity arrives when Suzanne is six years old (and played by Kelly Endresz-Banlaki). She is whisked away from her foster parents, placed on a plane, and flown to the United States. There, the confused little girl is re-united with the family she does not remember. Her adjustment to her new life is not easy - she misses her mama and papa, and can't think of what to call Margit other than "lady". Events skip forward ten years, to an older Suzanne who resents her mother's overprotective approach to parenting, and can't figure out where she belongs - in the sunny suburbs of Los Angeles or in the place where she spent her childhood. Eventually, in an attempt to answer her questions, she returns to Hungary.
An American Rhapsody could have been a real tear-jerker; thankfully, it stays relatively free of overt sentimentality and manipulation. Gardos looks back on her life through an unfogged lens - she views all of the characters sympathetically, allowing that "we all make mistakes out of love". The only villain is the faceless totalitarian system of government which forces the separation of Suzanne from her birth family. The movie is exceptional in the way it presents the various characters' mindsets. Margit and Peter miss their daughter desperately and try everything possible to get her back - a process that takes six years. Teri and Jeno come to love the little girl as their own, and are hurt and resentful when she is taken away from them. And Suzanne is bewildered and frightened by the sudden shift in her life, as the comfortable rural home she had always known is replaced by something altogether different.
The film stars Scarlett Johansson, one of today's finest young actresses (she has impressed in all of her other performances, including Manny & Lo, The Horse Whisperer, and Ghost World). She presents Suzanne not as a teenage caricature, but as a child-woman struggling with all the usual problems of girls her age (boys, curfews, overly restrictive parents) while suffering through an identity crisis. Suzanne does not know who she is or where she belongs. Half-recalled memories of a seemingly idyllic childhood and perfect parents beckon to her like an intangible paradise on the other side of a rainbow. Her sense of frustration, and, later, of loss, is palpable. Nastassja Kinski and Tony Goldwyn offer Johansson effective support and hold the movie together during the early scenes when she is not on screen.
If there's a problem with the movie, it occurs at the very end, when Gardos rushes an emotional catharsis that feels forced and artificial. (There's even a too obviously symbolic fence on hand to help drive home the point with sledgehammer subtlety.) Perhaps it's difficult to conclude a film like this, but the ease with which everything is neatly wrapped via a short conversations feels too much like a cheat. That's only a few minutes, however. Everything that comes before it is as perceptive as it is involving and touching. An American Rhapsody is a rare find.
© 2001 James Berardinelli