''An American Rhapsody'' is a 2001 Hungarian-American biographical

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

that tells the story of a 15-year-old girl from a

Hungarian-American Hungarian Americans ( Hungarian: ''amerikai magyarok'') are Americans of Hungarian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that there are approximately 1.396 million Americans of Hungarian descent as of 2018. The total number of people wit ...

family. The film is based on the true story of the director, Éva Gárdos, who also wrote the script. The film stars

Nastassja Kinski Nastassja Aglaia Kinski (; , ; born 24 January 1961) is a German actress and former model who has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States. Her worldwide breakthrough was with ''Stay as You Are'' (1978). She then came to gl ...

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

Tony Goldwyn Anthony Howard Goldwyn (born May 20, 1960) is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He made his debut appearing as Darren in the slasher film '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' (1986), and had his breakthr ...

, and

Mae Whitman Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She began acting in commercials as a child, making her film debut at the age of six in the romantic drama '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994). She achieved recognition as ...

Plot

In 1950, a Hungarian couple, Peter and Margit, are forced to flee from the oppressive

Hungarian People's Republic The Hungarian People's Republic ( hu, Magyar Népköztársaság) was a one-party socialist state from 20 August 1949 to 23 October 1989. It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet Uni ...

for the United States, taking along their eldest daughter Maria. Unfortunately, they are forced to leave behind their infant daughter, Suzanne, who is raised by a kind foster couple. Five years later, Peter and Margit arrange for the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

to bring Suzanne to their new home in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. There, the perplexed young girl is forced to accept her sudden change in home and country, which leads to a troubled upbringing. At age 15, Suzanne, rebellious and unsure of herself, tries to come to terms with her roots and decides to travel back to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, to unravel her past and to find her true identity.

Cast

as Margit Sandor *

as Suzanne Sandor (age 15) ** Kelly Endrész Banlaki as Suzanne (age 5–6) ** Raffaella Bánsági as Suzanne (infant) *

as Peter Sandor *

as Maria Sandor (age 10) **

Larisa Oleynik Larisa Romanovna Oleynik (; born June 7, 1981) is an American actress who became a teen idol in the 1990s. Born in Santa Clara and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, Oleynik began her career as a child actor, first appearing ...

as Maria Sandor (age 18) *

Ágnes Bánfalvy Ágnes Bánfalvy (born 30 April 1954) is a Hungarian actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films since 1975. Selected filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banfalvy, Agnes 1954 births Living people Actresses from Budapest ...

as Helen * Zoltán Seress as George *

Zsuzsa Czinkóczi Zsuzsa Czinkóczi (born January 23, 1967) is a Hungarian actress. Her best-known work includes ''Nobody's Daughter'' (1976), '' Just Like Home'' (1978), ''Diary for My Children'' (1984), ''Diary for My Lovers ''Diary for My Lovers'' ( hu, Napl ...

as Teri * Balázs Galkó as Jeno *

Lisa Jane Persky Lisa Jane Persky (born May 5, 1955) is an American actress, journalist, author, artist, and photographer. She played supporting roles in the films ''The Great Santini'' (1979) ''Peggy Sue Got Married'' (1986) and '' When Harry Met Sally...'' (19 ...

as Patti *

Colleen Camp Colleen Celeste Camp (born June 7, 1953) is an American character actress and producer. After appearing in several bit parts, she had a lead role in the comedy ''The Swinging Cheerleaders'' (1974), followed by roles in two installments of the '' ...

as Dottie *

Emmy Rossum Emmanuelle Grey Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress, director, and singer. She is known for her portrayal of List of Shameless (American TV series) characters#Fiona Gallagher, Fiona Gallagher in the television series ''Shame ...

as Sheila (age 15) * Éva Soreny as Eva *

Kata Dobó Kata Dobó or Kata Dobo (born Katalin Kovács, Hungarian: Kovács Katalin, Dobó Kata, on 25 February 1974) is a Hungarian actress and filmmaker. Life Dobo was born in Győr, Hungary and moved to Los Angeles, USA in 1999 to her partner of the ...

as Claire * Jacqueline Steiger as Betty

Reception

''An American Rhapsody'' received mixed reviews, currently holding a 51/100 rating on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a 55% approval rating based on 60 reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 5.61/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Though obviously a labor of love, ''American Rhapsody'' is an uneven, heavy-handed effort, particularly in the second half".

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:American Rhapsody 2001 films 2001 biographical drama films 2001 independent films American coming-of-age drama films American biographical drama films Hungarian biographical drama films Hungarian-language films English-language Hungarian films Films scored by Cliff Eidelman Films about film directors and producers Films about immigration to the United States Drama films based on actual events Films set in 1950 Films set in 1955 Films set in 1956 Films set in 1958 Films set in 1965 Films set in Hungary Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Budapest Films shot in Los Angeles Hungarian-American history American independent films Paramount Pictures films Fireworks Entertainment films 2001 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films