guil fisher Okay, I'm a hopeless romantic for love stories and classic music. I happened upon this gem of a movie by chance while searching for films that had Lee Williams cast in them. This young actor amazed me in another film called No Night Is Too Long. His sensitivity is abundant in this one as well. An extremely handsome expressive face, he plays his role of David with great depth. Add to this the excellent acting of his fellow actors, Hans Matheson in the leading role of a young violinist who falls in love with Sophie, played beautifully by Melanie Thierry, a concert pianist. The three stars bring honest performances in their fated relationships in the world of music and pre-Nazi Europe. The Photography was brilliant and the direction by Ricky Tognazzi, son of famed director Ugo Tognazzi, was wonderful.In supporting roles I also liked Gabriel Byrne and director Tognazzi himself playing the father of both of the young men. If you get a chance to see this, do so. For you'll love the music, scenery and fine acting by an excellent cast.

nihao Fabio Cianchetti's photography, Hans Matheson's passion and Ennio Morricone's music can't save this one... Sloppy direction and impossible age differences riddle this entangled plot and, eventually sink it. What remains is Beautiful locations in Czeck Republic, a few well handled minor roles (Giordano, Prodan and Pappalardo), and the conviction that music and love are twins. What Mr. Maurensig the author of the original, fine Novel thought of this cinematic spaghetti is a mystery.... we have our opinion. Nonetheless, if you are at a loss for cinema viewing and are a lover of pretty faces and Violin music... well, maybe "Canone Inverso" by director/actor(?!) Ricky Tognazzi, son-it appears of the great Ugo Tognazzi, will suit you quite nicely!

eroka Saw this at the Jerusalem Film Festival 2000, and this was the worst European movie I saw this year. It has a ridiculous plot, silly twists, English actors who portray in English characters that would speak Czech and German shot somewhere in the Czech Republic. The only time someone speaks the language they should is when a German soldier is shouting "get away from here!"... Has subtle yet very strange gay-erotic undertones - and that is between two characters that end up being brothers! - very uninspiring acting and very badly written characters. Some actors do not look their character's age and if you really try and create the geneology of this broken family - you would come to some very strange conclusions (I refer you to the fact that Jeno's mother has a second child when he is about 20 yet she looks not a day over 25, Sophie looks like 13 years old but married to a guy over 40 and Jeno meets her when he is about 18, Costanza was born in a concentration camp (?!) and in 1974 looks like 21 instead of over 30 and so on). This is an example of what happens when good talents try to create a film that would sell "internationally", i.e. will be sold under the American distribution system. You get a horrible muddled plot spoken i the wrong language and shot in the best/worst way Italian manure can be shot in. It is artistically for the ignorant who won't even notice that the Cannon Inverso is not truly an inversed canon.. Now how dumn is that?! Avoid unless you want to see beautiful shooting locations. The music is OK but gets the standard not-more-than-2-minutes-a-piece-please attitude. A shame to the amazing legacy of Italian film making.

rer.international I expected to see a simple plotted movie based just on a romantic love story. I was wrong. Beautiful plot, extremely well balanced between drama, poetry, musical vibrations, imagery and strong ecstatic emotions. My eyes, my ears, my skin were completely raped from the beginning to the end. The movie also discloses unusual parental relations teaching some lessons. I was pretty moved by the unlettered stepfather going beyond his poor origins and believes and granting his son the way to reach his dreams. My compliments to all: play writers, director, actors and music composers (included Debussy :-)). They have done an excellent work!