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AN AMERICAN RHAPSODY Send This Review to a Friend
Having spent considerable time in Hungary, I find this story of refugees from Communism and a teenager's quest to come to grips with her roots intensely absorbing, especially since the focus is on talented actress Scarlett Johansson as the troubled, young Suzanne. Another plus is Nastassja Kinski, turning in a believable performance, perhaps her best, as the girl's perplexed mother trying to grapple with her daughter's needs while attempting to integrate her into the family's new life in America.
The problem begins when Suzanne is a baby and her parents--her father is played by Tony Goldwyn-- must hastily flee in the night. The child is supposed to be sent to join them following their dangerous escape, but plans go wrong and she is taken to a peasant family, who raise her as if she were their own and are reluctant to give her up. But Suzanne's mother eventually succeeds in getting her daughter to the United States. The battle begins.
Johansson effectively captures Suzanne's rebelliousness and troubled psyche as she yearns for the happy life she remembers in Hungary, including her affection for the couple she regarded as her real parents. Against the judgment of her mother, Suzanne decides that she must return to Hungary for a visit and dig into her past.
The story is cogently written and directed without frills by Eva Gardos, who based it on her own life story, and it strikes an emotional chord as yet another tale related to persecution, flight and the toll taken upon those whose lives must be radically restructured. A Paramount Classics release.
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