l must confess to something very serious.
Serious?
Yes.
l fear I will disappoint you.
But the lie was forced on me.
What lie?
l was made to conceal my true identity.
- And, above all... - Above all?
ln reality, I am that girl with the voice of gold.
The child prodigy is my brother.
Our parents drag us around Europe
for my father is hungry for glory.
l am ashamed of having lied to you.
Please forgive me.
Do you want me to leave?
Let us enjoy this delicious ruse a while longer.
Go and dress as a woman.
l shall show you the wonders of our chateau.
lt is here,
in the most public place, that we shall go unnoticed.
Are you afraid?
Fear engenders joy.
To ward it off.
Visiting the army camp at Compigne with my father,
l grew fond of the young officers.
After a day of fighting,
we would throw a handkerchief to the prettiest women.
- Throw a handkerchief? - Yes.
lt is a simple and clear way of showing a woman
that you like her and that she could...
That she could...?
Do you not understand?
Become your mistress?
Yes.
You see.
lt's said that l'm the opposite of my father in regards to women.
What if that isn't true?
Devotion does not negate temptation.
As a woman your image delights me.
Do you not think l am a well-nourished boy?
Where have you been?
Where were you?
Talking to the Dauphin.
Why so late?
l didn't dare interrupt him.
How did you get back?
lsabelle d'Aubusson arranged a coach.
l waited all evening to rehearse.
Do you know what time it is?
l didn't notice.
l was worried to death!
I must scold you, my dear Nanna.
In your letter you used the detestable phrase "most humbly",
which would make me think, if I did not know you,
that your love for me is conventional
and not from the heart.
I am your Chiffe, and that is all.
I have received a letter from Hugues le Tourneur,
and my brother has told me of his great regard for you.
I burn with desire to know him along with all my royal family.
I wish you every success
in your musical adventure,
and l remain your loving and loyal friend, Louise de France.
A child musician?
Yes.
Little Thomas.
He's English.
The same age as your son.
Hush, let me listen!
Mediocre.
- Are you sure? - Soulless and mechanical.
Allow me to introduce the Mozart children.
The girl is fourteen and the boy, barely ten.
They will not only play harpsichord concertos,
but the boy will also play a violin concerto.
For the harpsichord pieces,
a sheet will cover the keyboard.
He will strike the notes through the sheet.
Then he will name notes at a distance,
by themselves or in chords,
played on the harpsichord or any other instrument,
on a bell, a glass and so on...
l'm so proud.
The son of the King of France,
the future King of France himself, kissed my hand.
He looked at me,
smiled while holding my hand in his,
and said a few words in his gentle voice.
And it was I, Anna-Maria, an orphan without a dowry,
married to an entertainer, who had this privilege.
Oh, Mama!
l shan't be calm. I'm delirious.
l'm proud of you, children, and your wonderful talent.
l'm sorry I slapped you.
And you, my husband and master,
l admire you as deeply as I love you.
lf my mother were alive, she'd die ofjoy!
Now what did we say? No mess, please!
No, Leopold!
My feet hurt and l'm in a bad mood.
No, Wolfy, that's my place on the right!
Papa, l'm nearly fifteen,
l look sixteen, but you say l'm fourteen.
And I'm eleven, Papa.
Be quiet, pups!
What a family!
You played abominably.
We'll talk tomorrow.
Quick, a keyboard!
Your Grace...
My parents have decided to pursue our tour.
I had hoped to see you before we leave.
Who knows when we will return?
Perhaps in a few weeks, perhaps never.
I love Paris for many reasons,
the most important being our meeting.
Please accept my respectful and saddened regards.
I shall continue to write music thinking of you.
Nannerl Mozart.
Nannerl, please.
Thank you, son.
How long until London?
A twelve-hour crossing from Calais.
Your daughter composed more music today.
l forbade her.
She can't help it.
l taught our children discipline. But it's her stubbornness you like.
Really, Anna-Maria!
Here, look.
Help me rid her of these desires, so inflammatory to the mind.
Does she at least have talent?
Did you doubt it?
ln Paris?
Madame Van Eyck will agree.
She wanted to mention it to Papa.
l'm grown-up now.
l can earn my own money.
By giving lessons.
Our fame will help me find pupils of quality.
Your father needs you.
l've become a burden to him.
Wolfgang is the big attraction with his compositions.
Your brother is a phenomenon.
The spectacle would be greater without me.
Speak to Papa.
He'll come around.
What would l do without you?
l'd write to you.
And we'd meet again soon.
There's a coach that leaves for Paris tomorrow.
Will you talk to him?
l promise.
- Mademoiselle. - Madame.
A letter has come this morning.
- Addressed to you. - Thank you.
Dear Maria-Anna, sweet Nannerl,
I thought you'd gone but you are back.
I cannot see you yet,
but I hereby formally commission a minuet for violin and orchestra.
Write it as soon as you can and let me know when it is ready.
I will send someone for it, study it,
and send for you soon after.
I beg you will indulge your extraordinary aptitude
and give me proofthat you outshine the realm's greatest composers.
Let us win this challenge.
I kiss your hands and remain your faithful and attentive friend,
Louis de France.
Take good care of it.
l'll take my leave.
Again.
- That fast? - Yes.
Good. We'll stop there.
We'll continue next week.
- Already? - Yes.
l'm sorry.
Mademoiselle?
ls this the Academy of Music?
No. Painting and Drawing.
lt's not open to women.
Unless they're posing.
Would you pose for us?
We study morphology.
Time to tackle the female body!
Gentlemen, the class is beginning.
The most important aspect about a creator is inspiration,
which transfigures human thoughts and passions.
lf the composer is but a virtuoso of writing,
he will not attain true beauty
nor will his ideas be sublime.
Pity the poor artist not driven by passion!
Enough!
Enough, enough!
You'll understand why I asked you to dress once more as a man.
l'm so glad to see you.
Monsieur,
l must congratulate you on your talent.
l took the greatest pleasure in working through your score.
- Are you making fun of me? - No, Nannerl.
Every note of your music haunts me.
Doors!
What I dreaded has happened.
The King has decided.
I must wed Maria-Josepha of Saxony,
a young princess offifteen.
The marriage is to take place soon.
I am desperately unhappy.
Please visit the Carmelites of Saint-Denis.
A person dear to you desires your visit.
Do not be surprised or intimidated by what you discover here.
l am so happy to see you.
l am in joy with Christ.
l have always been very pious, despite my mischievousness.
But be reassured, l am still the little Chiffe you knew.
And you?
My family is still on tour but l have stayed in Paris.
l'm giving lessons and learning composition.
My brother has asked me to intervene with you.
He knows of our friendship.
He asks you to forget him.
My poor Nanna...
His faith is true but his mind is troubled.
He is afraid that, like his father, he will sink into debauchery.
We both must help him to find peace.
You, by staying away from him, l, through prayer.
l pray also for the King.
Papa allowed me to enter this order,
here in Saint-Denis,
not far from court.
l have put on the postulant's habit.
lt is like a novice's.
And Hugues le Tourneur?
God showed me that the devil lurked behind that young man.
The devil?
ln fact, Hugues is my half-brother.
A bastard from one of my father's many secret affairs.
l had to seek the protection of the Lord.
lt was my sincere love for my father which made me enter this order.
What a joy it has been to see you.
Your father has been in torment with a rheumatism of the leg.
He didn't sleep for four nights, and the days were no better.
I'm only sending one kiss because you don't write!
I'm pleased - my ass! - that you're having such fun.
I'm sending a hundred kisses for your horsey face!
Are you playing the harpsichord?
And still singing?
We are staying at the Auberge Rouge in Valenciennes, near Paris.
Nannerl!
l thought l'd never see you again.
You're soaked!
Come in and get warm, my darling.
- What are you doing here? - I want to be with you.
Don't scold her.
l'll never leave you again, Papa.
Have you come back to us?
Go and sleep. l'm here.
Her condition is less serious than you may be imagining.
Your daughter is suffering from a clogging of the mucous membranes.
Give her no seltzer water, which causedthe relaxatio universalis,
nor milk.
Working tires me less than resting.
Make yourselves at home!
- We leave again in two days. - So soon?
- There's a lot to explain. - I can't wait.
I heard you were back in Paris.
I would see you again.
I invite you to a reception in my private apartments.
Isabelle d'Aubusson will meet you with your suit of men's clothes.
The kingdom of France can do anything.
The King, for example, imposes two mothers on me.
Mine,
the Queen, whom l respect infinitely,
an example of devotion and motherly love...
And the other,
Madame Poisson,
the Pompadour,
Mama the whore,
who forces him to flit from mistress to mistress,
this ladies' man of almost 60!
His latest is younger than you.
Marie-Louise O'Murphy is her name.
Right out of the Parc aux Cerfs,
a sort of harem kept for the King by the Pompadour.
The King is shameless.
He had her pose nude for his painter, Franois Boucher.
The whole kingdom is sunk in dissoluteness.
ls it not, Nannerl?
And you
would no doubt fall into my arms,
and the two of us would find great pleasure in it,
for we love each other.
ls that what you're thinking?
Follow me, Nannerl.
lnto my private domain.
l am surrounded by death.
As was my father.
l had one brother, now dead.
l am condemned to survive,
for the kingdom could not bear my death.
So I play at dying.
The Dauphine plays willingly.
And we invite friends to play at death with us.
When Maria-Josepha joins us,
you will be the young man l took such a liking to.
She will not know you have stolen my heart.
lt's the catafalque that was made for the first Dauphine.
l ordered it to be left in here, awaiting further deaths.
There is also a harpsichord
for you to play.
Are you afraid of the dead?
No, I don't think so.
Each corpse can become a ghost.
l know.
And they don't scare you?
No.
l know them well.
l know they exist.
Mine, in any case.
All my brothers and sisters who died.
l shall lie down on this bier
and live, with you, the last moments of our love.
Pepa!
l'm here, my beloved.
This is Monsieur Kauffer, who is ready to play with us.
Go to the harpsichord and play. lmprovise.
You called for me, my love?
Yes.
You alone bring me your affectionate presence.
My dear love,
forgive me this unpleasant night you will have to spend.
Go to bed, you must be tired.
No, my love.
My only pleasure is to stay with you.
l am afraid my rambling will bore you.
Can l be bored when I have you?
Did you hear what I said?
Yes.
Listen to this divine music.
Would you recite your prayers?
Yes, I shall read them.
Now withdraw.
l will leave you with your music.
Come.
Sit down.
Kiss my forehead.
My lips too.
You are the devil in person!
You wish to trap me in depravity, fornication and adultery!
Get out!
And take your ungodly music!
Go and never come back,
or I shall have you quartered!
ln eternal torment!
You had barely returned to Paris and now you're off to Vienna.
You'll always be in my heart, my dear Nanna,
however far away you are,
and even if we should never meet again.
l read your secrets,
and I understand your confusion.
God wanted us both to be girls.
lmagine how different our destinies would have been,
had we been boys.
You would be your brother and I would be mine.
We would both reign.
You, over your creations. l, over men.
But God decided otherwise.
You must obey Him by obeying your father,
and accepting what he commands.
l embrace you with all my heart and pledge my faith to you.
May you attain, in self-renunciation, a joy akin to mine,
through being so close to God.
Farewell, my friend.
Aren't you with them?
No.
Your black dress?
Yes.
Give me a hand.
l bought things for a feast.
Not prepared dishes. They're bad and too expensive.
lt's for our last night in Paris.
Shall we light the fire?
Yes.
My darling...
You're sad to be leaving Paris.
Aren't you glad to be going home?
l don't know.
See to the fire and get warm,
while I prepare the dinner.
Or will you help me?
l don't like cooking.
l know.
l'm not like other girls.
ln Salzburg my friends won't know me.
They'll have changed too.
They'll be all ready for marriage.
Aren't you cut out for marriage, then?
Who would wed me?
All I can do is sing and play.
Endless rehearsals under my father's orders...
such has been my life since I was little.
l can do nothing else.
Your father will be back soon,
and nothing's ready.
Sorry, Mama.
l love you so much.
l'll help you cook.
Teach me. There's still time!
My dear...
l cannot imagine being parted from my children.
l love you more than anything.
l shake with fear for you,
yet I am rewarded.
lt was from you l learned to be different!
No doubt.
Light the fire, l'll prepare the food.
Aren't you coming for a last walk in Paris?
No, I'm tired.
l'll tidy up, Mama.
l'm proud of you.
Wolfgang, put more clothes on.
No, Mama!
Leave him.
You know how he hates being swaddled.
The harpsichordists and composers of Vienna are against us,
refusing to acknowledge Wolfgang's talent.
To combat such dishonesty, l shall give them irrefutable proof.
- What, Papa? - You shall write an opera.
An opera?
lmagine the reaction.
A boy under twelve,
at his piano, conducting his orchestra.
An opera buffa.
An opera buffa?
But not a short one. lt will be two or three hours long.
l remember Madame Van Eyck mentioning it.
Did you hear? lt was Madame Van Eyck's idea!
At the time it didn't really register.
But now, because of that cabal...
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We must succeed.
Why the theatre?
What better place is there?
Are you ready to take up the challenge?
To work, then, Mr Composer!
Look at him...
Nannerl never composed again.
She devoted her life to her father,
along with her choices, dreams,
loves and creative desires.
At the age of 32,
she agreed to marry a man over 50 who already had five children,
thus becoming Baroness von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg.
She entrusted her only surviving child, named Leopold, to her father.
He tried in vain to discover in his grandson
some of Wolfgang's creative spark.
She died at the age of 78, poor and blind,
having devoted her life
to gathering her brother's works for posterity.