spoiler this be the ( fictional ) account of vitus von holzen and a piano prodigy . in the first third of the movie vitus be six year old and in the rest he be twelve . the main stroke of brilliance this film have to offer be in the casting of two piano prodigy to play vitus . teo georghiu play vitus at age twelve and he be about twelve at the time of the filming and be stunningly talented . most people be captivate by genius no matter what the area of expertise and and genius in a young person be particularly fascinating . it seem that the main area open to childhood prodigy be chess and music and and mathematics and it be not uncommon for a genius in one of these area to have talent in the others . if you have ever attempt to excel in any area and encounter a person who be so above and beyond what be normally consider excellence and then your appreciation for such a person be heighten . teo gheorhiu command such esteem . by far the high point of the movie for me be in see him play and marvel at his ability . vitus face a decision that i assume most prodigy face and and that be how much of their life should be devote to develop their gift . to rise to the top and the devotion require would be pretty much all consuming and or at least it would set them apart from a more normal childhood . vitus face such a decision and a decision accentuate by the pressure of his parent to capitalize on his gift and the mockery of his fellow student and since he excel in the classroom as well . it seem that the only person who simply want vitus to find his own way be his grandfather ( bruno ganz in a fine performance ) and and vitus establish a close bond with him . the internal conflict vitus face between conform and pursue his talent be set up nicely . in order to fit in and vitus fake a diminution of ability after an attempt to put on wing and jump from the second story of his house result in a concussion . it be not clear to me if vitus purposely stag this event so that he could subsequently fake normalcy and or if he just recognize the possibility the accident afford him . but no matter how hard vitus try to be an average kid and like buy popular music cd and his interest in classical music can not be suppress and he buy a cd of bach goldberg variation play by alexey botvinov that excite him to try his own playing on his grandfather piano . only his grandfather know that vitus talent be still there and vitus be fake it lack . this be a great setup for a rich final payoff that be totally squander in the final third where vitus start play the stock market in order to save his father job . due to insider information he make million and wind up buy a nasa sized flight simulator for his aviation love grandfather . when i saw that thing in vitus grandfather shop and i know the movie have take a regrettable wrong turn into fantasy land . for one thing vitus would have be slap with an insider trading lawsuit fairly quickly . a he continue to make more million and buy out his dad old company and i lose respect for this movie . in addition to be a piano prodigy and georghiu be a good actor with a win personality . base on the brief interview with him on the dvd extras it would appear that georghiu have not be torture by life decision conflict . he say he want to play a concert in the royal albert hall by the time he be twenty and also remark that in order to make a lot of money you have to be really good . i hope he achieve both of those goal . for a movie that treat the same theme ( but chess instead of pianism ) see search for bobby fischer . that film stay ground and perhaps because it be base on a true story .