The film narrates an intense international competition held in San Francisco among six elite pianists who are competing for a grand prize of $20,000 and a two-year concert contract. The main plot has two counterpoints one is a love story of two finalists, Richard Dreyfuss, and Amy Irving, while the other one is about a Russian piano teacher who defects to America and inadvertently causes an international incident, forcing the competition to be postponed by a week.
When we come to understand “The Competition” we find that the title suggests not only a sharp critique of big-league pianists, as the film is more focused on the lovish elements. Dreyfuss and Amy Irving make believe and are wonderfully convincing as the two teenagers in love, particularly when they contradict each other by stating that love should not be a factor in a piano competition, not even as a psychological strategy to undermine a contender. This is precisely what Amy Irving’s piano coach (Lee Remick) assumes is the intention of the evil Dreyfuss.
The film covers three subjects which it does portray only at the surface.
One focuses on the rivalry concerning artists who are performing against each other. The other centers on relationships between men and women. Will the romance between Amy and Richard be ruined if she wins? How will this damage his delicate male ego? The third concerns the artist’s career, and in this regard, Remick has some wonderful scenes and cleverly crafted dialogues as she attempts to make Irving understand the realities of a concert career.
Undoubtedly, there is a great deal of music in addition to romance and self-reflection, backstage drama, and even covert international conflict. It is one of the defining features of The Competition that, astonishingly, it manages to convince us that the actors are playing the pianos. They’re not. But if you want the names of the real pianists who played the music on the film’s soundtrack, just wait for the credits. Still, Dreyfuss, Irving, and the others really look as if they’re playing and learned to do it convincingly after months of rehearsals.
It’s warm and not great, but entertaining still that’s The Competition.
It dares to tell the story about the remarkable, full of surprises people, and the interesting, Joel Oliansky, the writer-director, has cared enough to let them take him to places they wish because he put all his heart into them. The only significant slip-up comes after two hours of wonderful piano music hearing the irredeemably awful “People Alone” by Randy Crawford and Lalo Schifrin, featured at the end of the movie, robs all the great composers of their needed rest.
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