Breaking Free ◆ from a Father's Control
Chunichi Shimbun, Morning Edition, January 19, 2007
Shine (1995, Australia)
David Helfgott, the Australian pianist, is known for his extraordinary talent and his struggle with mental illness. Shine tells the story of how he breaks free from his father's oppressive control and rediscovers his true self. Geoffrey Rush, who plays David as an adult, won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.
David's father, Peter, pushes him relentlessly to master the piano, and he soon becomes celebrated as a child prodigy. Peter has entrusted his son with the dream of becoming a musician that he himself was never able to fulfill.
David begins his journey toward success, but Peter grows increasingly afraid of losing his influence over his son. He keeps David under his control with words such as, “Do you know how much I love you?” and “You're a lucky boy.” He even forces David to abandon his plans to study in America and resorts to physical violence. Torn between his father's hold over him, his emotional attachment to his father, and his desire for independence, David gradually loses his vitality.
At nineteen, David defies his father's wishes and wins a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London. There, he enters a competition with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, considered one of the most technically demanding works in the repertoire. It is a piece to which Peter is deeply attached, and although David rebels against his father, he remains obsessed with winning his approval. David wins the competition brilliantly, but the immense strain leaves him exhausted, his mental condition deteriorates, and he is admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
Years later, a female admirer takes David in, and he is discharged from the hospital. One day, he begins playing the piano on a whim in a bar and receives enthusiastic applause. He rediscovers the joy of performing. When Peter later comes to see him, David rejects him and sends him away. For the first time, he realizes that he has freed himself from his father's control.
David eventually marries Gillian, an older woman who supports him, and returns to the concert stage. It is deeply moving to see him, after years of suffering under his father's domineering authority, finally begin to follow his own path with the emotional support of a loving partner.
The film leaves me with a profound conviction: parents must never use their children to fulfill their own dreams or control the course of their lives.
