Every review of Scott Hicks’s biopic is positive, and the praise clusters around the acting. Geoffrey Rush’s adult David Helfgott is the performance most critics return to, admired for how closely observed it is and for holding the man’s warmth and his oddness together. Armin Mueller-Stahl’s father draws nearly as much attention, with several reviews noting that the film treats him with respect rather than making him a monster. The music is credited with carrying much of the feeling, and the tone is repeatedly called unsentimental despite the material.
The reservations are mild and mostly about familiarity. The Independent sees a film built on well-worn genius-is-agony conventions that adds just enough of its own to get away with it, and the Los Angeles Times calls it an old-fashioned Hollywood picture, a compliment with a small caveat attached. The spread is narrow: nobody is cool on it, and the gap is between critics who find it moving and those who find it a good deal more than that.