The Music RoomMovies like The Music Room
- Key Features:
- Aristocracy, Decline, Tradition, Passion, Legacy, Social class, Wealth, Cultural preservation, Obsession, Pride, Loss, India, Melodrama
- Tone:
- serious, restrained
- Target Audience:
- Film enthusiasts, Cultural audiences, Drama lovers, Art house aficionados
- Emotional Arc:
- Nostalgia → Decline
The Music Room

An aging, decadent landlord’s passion for music becomes the undoing of his legacy as he sacrifices his wealth in order to compete with the opulent music room of his younger, richer neighbour.
The Music Room
Self-doubt, sacrifice and struggle converge into an existential crisis for a devoted classical vocalist as the mastery he strives for remains elusive.

A young woman meets a failing musician who launches her singing career, but their relationship is doomed when people assume he's with her for her fame and fortune.

College student Janardhan is a simpleton who desperately seeks inspiration for the musician inside him. Although heartbreak helps him reach his goal, it also leads him to self-destruction.

At a prestigious all-male university, three friends seek love outside of the school grounds; at the same time, a newly-hired music teacher seeks to befriend and loosen up the militantly strict headmaster.

Set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike, a worker falls in love with the middle-class daughter of his landlady.

In 1900s India, Calcuttan zamindar Devdas Mukherjee — unable to marry his lover — takes up alcohol and the company of a courtesan to alleviate the pain.

Arindam, a matinee idol, is going by train to collect an acting award. On the train, he is confronted by Aditi, a journalist who somewhat unwillingly starts to take his interview. Arindam, won over by Aditi's naivete, starts to disclose his past, his fears and his secrets.

Anne-Marie Stretter, the wife of a French diplomat in 1930s India, takes many lovers to relieve the boredom in her life.

Dev Kumar Verma comes from a middle-class family and must find employment to support his dad and mom. Dev, however, has set his mind upon becoming a music sensation like Elvis Presley. He loses his job because of this, and refuses to work until and unless he gets a job to his liking, much to the dismay of his parents and his brother, Shiv Kumar. Dev does get employment at Charlie's Disco, where he meets with Maya and falls in love with her. When Charlie's Disco's competitor, Rana, finds out about Dev, he wants to hire Dev, but Dev decides to continue to work with Charlie's Disco, as a result Dev and Charlie get a beating by Rana's men, and Dev is unable to sing. After recuperating, Dev is devastated to find out that Maya and Shiv Kumar are in love with each other. What impact will this have on Dev and his brother on one hand, and what of his career in music?

Indolent aristocrat Tony employs competent Barrett as his manservant and all seems to be going well until Barrett persuades Tony to hire his sister as a live-in maid.

After her husband loses his job, a housewife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a salesperson.

In 1870s India, Charulata is an isolated, artistically inclined woman who sees little of her busy journalist husband, Bhupati. Realizing that his wife is alienated and unhappy, he convinces his cousin, Amal, to spend time with Charulata and nourish her creative impulses. Amal is a fledgling poet himself, and he and Charulata bond over their shared love of art.

The life of a woman is transformed after she is diagnosed with a terminal disease, fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she throws caution to the wind to pursue her dreams.

Impoverished priest Harihar Ray leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work. His wife, Sarbojaya, looks after their rebellious daughter, Durga, and young son, Apu. The children enjoy the small pleasures of their difficult life.

Apu, now a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer, is invited to join an old college friend on a trip up-country to a village wedding.

A well-off Indian family is paid an unexpected, and rather unwanted, visit by a man claiming to be the woman's long lost uncle. The initial suspicion with which they greet the man slowly dissolves as he regales them with stories of his travels, tales that are at odds with their conventional middle class perspective on the world.

A brother and sister's battle over a prized heirloom piano unleashes haunting truths about how the past is perceived — and who defines a family legacy.

As celebrated conductor Lydia Tár starts rehearsals for a career-defining symphony, the consequences of her past choices begin to echo in the present.

Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother.

A poverty-stricken woman raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, always sticks to her own moral code.

Composer, conductor and teacher Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky struggles against his homosexual tendencies by marrying, but unfortunately, he chooses wacky nymphomaniac Nina, whom he is unable to satisfy.

Two artistic souls find harmony through music despite their contrasting worlds. As feelings deepen, age and circumstances challenge their undeniable bond.

Subhash Nagre runs a parallel government in the city where he has a cult following. When his enemies plot to murder him, his son takes charge and stands up against them.

Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.

A piano composer's family moves into a new house; when his pregnant wife collapses from working to support the family, he hires a housemaid to help with housework.

A Hindu man and a Muslim woman fall in love in a small village and move to Mumbai, where they have two children. However, growing religious tensions and erupting riots threaten to tear the family apart.

Following the death of his wife, a renowned musician ostracises himself from the outer world and dedicates his life to music. However, his life changes when a young man approaches him to learn music.

A devout upper-class Hindu has a vision in a dream that his daughter-in-law is the human incarnation of the Goddess Kali and begins worshipping her.

The children of two wealthy businessman fall in love with someone from a poor background, much to their parents' disapprovals.

It is 80's Turkey, local musicians of Adiyaman are hired by the military and trained to welcome one of the forceful generals of coup regime.

A retired professor of American origin lives a solitary life in a luxurious palazzo in Rome. He is confronted by a vulgar Italian marchesa and her lover, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend, and forced to rent to them an apartment on the upper floor of his palazzo. From this point on his quiet routine is turned into chaos by his tenants' machinations, and everybody's life takes an unexpected but inevitable turn.

Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.

Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser-Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death.

A man pursues a woman who is already engaged and eventually gets married to her. Differences between the two lead to a bitter separation that threatens to destroy their relationship forever.

After dedicating their whole life in upbringing their children, elderly couple Raj Malhotra and Pooja gets homeless. Instead of caring, their children treat them as a burden.

On a summer day in late 19th century Russia, a group of bourgeois friends and acquaintances gather at a dilapidated country estate.

A sewerage worker's dead body is found inside a manhole in Mumbai. An ageing folk singer is tried in court on charges of abetment of suicide. He is accused of performing an inflammatory song which might have incited the worker to commit the act. As the trial unfolds, the personal lives of the lawyers and the judge involved in the case are observed outside the court.

Poonam, a traditionally brought-up young woman, is to marry Prem, a groom chosen by her uncle. Poonam and Prem's faith and love are to be tested however, when an accident occurs and Poonam might be scarred for life.

After moving from Calcutta to New York, members of the Ganguli family maintain a delicate balancing act between honoring the traditions of their native India and blending into American culture. Although parents Ashoke and Ashima are proud of the sacrifices they make to give their children opportunities, their son Gogol strives to forge his own identity without forgetting his heritage.

A man falls in love with his childhood friend, but her sister is the one who reciprocates his feelings.

A petty thief is put on trial for the attempted murder of a lawyer. Through a series of flashbacks, the intertwining lives of the thief, the lawyer, and the thief's defense lawyer are illustrated.

An ambitious teaching student's finals studies are interrupted by a passionate affair with a jazz musician.

The 25-year-old love story of a couple is told through the lens of their teenage daughter after she is diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis.

Two violinists in the same orchestra fall in love and get married, but they can't get along.

A wealthy businessman's traditional family celebrate their togetherness when his three sons get married, but slowly find themselves growing apart after a misunderstanding.

In the year 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is the King of Awadh, one of the last independent kingdoms of India. The British intend to control this rich land and send General Outram to clear way for an annexation. Pressure is mounting amidst intrigue and political maneuvers, but the Nawab whiles away his time in pursuit of pleasure and religious practice. The court is of no help either — noblemen Mir and Mirza ignore all duties and spend their days playing endless games of chess. Based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2010.

Prem and Nisha meet and fall in love at the wedding of their elder siblings, but their plans to be together are put in jeopardy when Nisha's sister dies, leaving behind a baby.

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

Odile is a business executive looking for a new, bigger apartment. Her younger sister Camille has just completed her doctoral thesis in history and is a Paris tour guide. Simon is a regular on Camille's tours because he's attracted to her. Camille has fallen for Marc, and they begin an affair. Nicolas is also looking for an apartment, since he hopes to eventually have his family join him in Paris.

A man belongs to a middle-class family and is intent on pursuing his career with a music group, despite his dad's disapproval. He is also in love with the lead singer, but she sees him mainly as a friend.

In their blue hotel room, a clandestine couple of two married lovers plan an impossible future, as death shutters their already frail tranquillity. Now, the noose tightens more and more around innocents and sinners; but, was there a crime?

Years after his father disowns his adopted brother for marrying a woman of lower social standing, a young man goes on a mission to reunite his family.

Pierre Belcroix and Marcel Blanc are violinists and lifelong friends living in Paris in the 1920s. While Marcel has become famous and Pierre has not, both are happy with their lives. Pierre is happily married to Romaine, a stylish young flapper. However, Marcel meets and falls in love with her, which Marcel little suspects.

A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and American) but with the same passion for music, from the 1930s to the 1960s. The various story lines cross each other time and again in different places and times, with their own theme scores that evolve as time passes. The main event in the film is the Second World War, which throws the stories of the four musical families together and mixes their fates. Although all characters are fictional, many of them are loosely based on historical musical icons (Édith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glenn Miller, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.) The Boléro dance sequence at the end brings all the threads together.

Alain Moreau sings for one of the few remaining dance-bands in Clermont-Ferrand. Though something of an idol amongst his female audience he has a melancholic awareness of the slow disappearance of that audience and of his advancing years. He is completely knocked off balance when he meets strikingly attractive and much younger businesswoman Marion. She seems distant and apparently otherwise involved but soon shows quiet signs of reciprocating his interest.

After a gifted musician inherits a mansion after her long lost father dies under mysterious circumstances, she discovers his last musical masterpiece riddled with cryptic symbols that unravels an evil secret, triggering dark forces that reach beyond her imagination.

When her father is killed in a road accident, Trishna's family expect her to provide for them. The rich son of an entrepreneur starts to restlessly pursue her affections, but are his intentions as pure as they seem?

After a group of friends graduate from Delhi University, they listlessly haunt their old campus, until a British filmmaker casts them in a film she's making about freedom fighters under British rule. Although the group is largely apolitical, the tragic death of a friend owing to local government corruption awakens their patriotism. Inspired by the freedom fighters they represent in the film, the friends collectively decide to avenge the killing.

Arun is a reclusive and lonely modern art painter. Shai is an American banker who is on a visit to Mumbai. Munna is a washerboy also living near Arun and Yasmin. The movie is about these four characters from different class of society and how the lives of four characters are intertwined.

An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.

An actor on the skids is given one more chance to regain his stardom, as well as his self-respect, yet his alcoholism may prevent that from happening.

A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.

A villager, Gurukant Desai, arrives in Bombay in 1958, and rises from its streets to become the biggest tycoon in India.

A young artist tries to win the heart of his muse, while her mother hatches a scheme to end his quest for true love.

A group of Mumbai up-and-comers search for love and struggle for success in this ensemble drama that centers on an eager young call centre executive.

A small-town girl finally realizes her dream of becoming a famous supermodel but soon finds out that there's a price for her glamorous new life.

A teenager reflects on his life after being accused of cheating on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".

A reclusive and butterfly-obsessed elderly lady suffering from bipolar disorder develops a disturbing relationship with a mysterious but seemingly innocent youngster.

A South Korean woman in her sixties enrolls in a poetry class as she grapples with her faltering memory and her grandson's appalling wrongdoing.

In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his true calling: writing a historic opus. As the decades roll by with the composition unwritten but generations of students inspired through his teaching, Holland must redefine his life's purpose.

Life for a shy young Indian student slowly falls to pieces during a family road trip.

When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy.

The tragic story of world-renowned cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as told from the point of view of her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré-Finzi.

Archie Rice, an old-time British vaudeville performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in show business.

Happy and accomplished, Ellias becomes the new artistic director of a famous French Haute Couture house. When he learns that his father, whom he has not seen for many years, has just died of a heart attack, Ellias goes to Quebec to settle the estate. The young creator will discover that he has inherited much worse than his father's fragile heart.

In Depression-era Winnipeg, a legless beer baroness hosts a contest for the saddest music in the world, offering a grand prize of $25,000.

Kate and Matt discover that a part of their house can grant wishes. In the wake of two miscarriages, what they want most is a child.

Three characters living in an unfinished painting venture out into the real world in search of their creator to convince him to finish his work.

A selfless young woman, the daughter of a middle-class refugee family from East Pakistan, sacrifices her own happiness for her unappreciative family.

Arthur is a grumpy pensioner who can't understand why his wife Marion would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth sees something special in the reluctant Arthur and refuses to give up on him. As she coaxes him out of his shell, Arthur realizes that it is never too late to change.

After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.

A newly-wed man discovers that his wife is in love with another man and decides to unite them. Ignoring the ridicule he might have to face for this, he takes his wife to Italy in search of her love.

A young, aspiring filmmaker falls in love with a girl who moves into the house above his, but her sophisticated nature does more harm than good to him.

Meeting while on vacation, Ved and Tara sense a connection but vow to keep their real identities a secret. Years later, their paths cross again.

Three people, each having different aspirations from life, are caught in a tangle of emotions and don’t know the way out. There’s a husband and wife with love eroding from their life. And there’s a single, happy-go-lucky dude who falls in love with the wife.

A grandmother has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.

Dr. Bhaskar Bannerjee struggles with his patients' suffering and the darkness and poverty he confronts daily. He treats cancer patient Anand who upon learning of his impending death determines to use the time he has left to the absolute fullest.

Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.

Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.

Vijay, a destitute poet, searches for true love while attempting to get his work published. With the assistance of two women in his life, his dream comes true - but at a cost that causes Vijay to rethink his worldview.

Amitabha Roy is a Calcutta-based scriptwriter, driving around in the country to collect material for a film. His vehicle breaks down in a small town. A tea planter, Bimal Gupta, offers hospitality for the night. Amitabha is forced to accept the offer as he has no alternative.

A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.

Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.

Music From Another Room is a romantic comedy that follows the exploits of Danny, a young man who grew up believing he was destined to marry the girl he helped deliver as a five year old boy when his neighbor went into emergency labor. Twenty-five years later, Danny returns to his hometown and finds the irresistible Anna Swann but she finds it easy to resist him since she is already engaged to dreamboat Eric, a very practical match. In pursuit of Anna, Danny finds himself entangled with each of the eccentric Swanns including blind, sheltered Nina, cynical sister Karen, big brother Bill and dramatic mother Grace as he fights to prove that fate should never be messed with and passion should never be practical.

In a touring Shakespearean theater group, a backstage hand - the dresser, is devoted to the brilliant but tyrannical head of the company. He struggles to support the deteriorating star as the company struggles to carry on during the London blitz. The pathos of his backstage efforts rival the pathos in the story of Lear and the Fool that is being presented on-stage, as the situation comes to a crisis.

Parghat Singh 'Gattu' Kahlon is a middle aged shopkeeper who secretly practices bowling at night in order to keep his dream of playing for England alive. Even though his family members despise him for giving up his dreams only due to his father's wish, they find a ray of hope and convince him to play for England while they plan to hide the truth from his father.

Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.

