Film Synopsis

Shine is an emotionally transcendent drama about one man's extraordinary victory over adversity. Inspired by the troubled but ultimately triumphant life of classical pianist David Helfgott, Shine focuses on Helfgott's painful retreat into a private world while still in his early 20's and on the brink of a glittering international career. Spanning the 1950's to the 1980's, Shine dramatizes the deeply moving way in which Helfgott, after a decade of obscurity, achieves both personal and professional fulfillment through the love and support of a remarkable woman. Avoiding the straightforward, linear approach of conventional biography, Shine employs an impressionistic musical structure that intricately counterpoints past and present, to tell a story that has all the power of actuality and the poetry of art.