By Manohla Dargis [NY Times, 18 August 2011]
“Mozart’s Sister” has just started when the French director RenÈ FÈret makes the point that his fictional look at the early life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus isn’t interested in the pretty manners and nostalgia of many period movies. In truth, the film has little to do even with Wolfgang, a side note in a story focused on his only sister who’s first seen squatting on the side of a road taking care of business at a short distance from her similarly engaged father, mother and brother. This is the Family Mozart, Mr. FÈret seems to declare with this scene, stripped down and at their most human.