Customer Reviews

Out of Tune: David Helfgott and the Myth of Shine

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've finally read the book after waiting a period of time after reading Scott Hick's published letter to the Wall Street Journal when this book first came out. And I'll include that here in fairness and as background to my reaction to the book.

The book's view is almost diametrically opposed to the one in the film and I sense the truth is somewhat in the middle. There is also a disclaimer at the end of the movie to the effect that it was a "fictionalized" story based on the life of David Helfgott.

Margaret's view of her father is that he was an angel. Reading between the lines, this can't be so, in which case we may be dealing with undue loyalty and the perspective of a sister who seems, in her narrative, jealous of the attention her father gave young David. It's an unpleasant read. Here are excerpts from Scott Hick's response to the reviewer for the WSJournal Aug. 27, 1998.

--- '... my primary source was not David Helfgott's wife Gillian, but David

Helfgott himself.

'In "Shine" I made a film that speaks for itself, and I stand by the research that was conducted in preparation for it, drawn from numerous interviews with friends, relatives, teachers, medical people and colleagues of David's. A number of these people were adult observers of Peter Helfgott and his family when Margaret and David were very young children.

'I maintain that all of the actions of the character Peter Helfgott have their origins in real events. In fact, some people who knew David Helfgott's father have commented to me that it is, if anything, a rather kind portrait. Certainly, I was told of abuses far more serious than those shown in the film, which I chose not to include in order to spare the family as well as the audience. When David's sister Susie read the script, she thanked me sincerely for my discretion about these events, which I have never discussed publicly. Susie continues to dispute Margaret's view of events, and has said publicly that her sister views the past through "rose-coloured glasses."

'Margaret Helfgott's first words to me were, "My father was a saint," a view she continues to campaign for, but which is not shared by other members of her family. I believe she chooses, for reasons of her own, to block out the memories of the years she has described in her own letters to family members as "traumatized."

'David's brother, Les Helfgott, has repeatedly told me and others that his father hit him, on one occasion actually knocking him unconscious. Les was omitted from the screenplay at his own request. When I gave him the script to read, he asked to be included in it again, but added that he gave the film his blessing, regardless. I gave Les, David's sister Louise and his mother Rae the opportunity to preview the film privately and discuss it with me. Afterward, Les Helfgott wrote to thank me, saying, "Any fears we may have had regarding the film have now gone. You have done a brilliant job of 'Shine'." Several weeks later, Les and Louise were my guests at the world premiere of the film, joining in the celebrations publicly with me. This was a strange way to show the concern and anger that Margaret's book would now have us believe they feel.

'Louise was also our guest during filming, and actually appears briefly in the film. Louise is the author of a play about Peter Helfgott (which she told me was workshopped at the Australian National Playwrights' Conference in Canberra) that is more explicit in its depiction of her father than is "Shine."

'Margaret Helfgott is, of course, entitled to her memory, despite consistently denying her brother David's right to his. It is tragic that she is unable to share her brother's joy at recapturing fragments of his lost career while overcoming the difficulties of his past. Perhaps this is a reflection of a decades-old jealousy instilled by the intense spirit of competitiveness her father fostered between Margaret and David, as she herself describes in her book . . .

'. . . she remains devoted to the memory of a complicated man who, whatever his merits, left behind him a family legacy that one psychiatrist who knew the Helfgotts described to me as "a bottomless pit of need."

Scott Hicks Director of "Shine" Adelaide, South Australia '

---

Hopefully, a balance to a much-distributed book.

4 Stars for writing style; 2 stars for the implications and reason for publishing. One cannot comment on this book without making reference to Gillian Helfgott's book as well. Margaret cannot be 100% wrong. David and Gillian Helfgott cannot be 100% wrong. Therefore, I took both Gillian's book and Margaret's book and began comparisons. Several things struck me: what man would pick up his family, force them to travel 2000 miles, and all with no prospects or money? (I mention this since the biggest bone of contention seems to be the father, Peter--his actions at certains times were questionable behavior by any stretch of the imagination.) Next, why are some of David's siblings literally beaming in the photo (in Gillian's book) taken with Actress Redgrave during the filming of SHINE? I could go on and on, but I think the truth lies somewhere in-between the two books. It's unfortunate that this book has and may continue to overshadow David's career and Gillian's sincerity. Read this book with the proverbial grain of salt. Besides, Margaret's childhood was not necessarily David's, unless she was with him 24 hours per day. The only good thing about the book is the obvious love the author has for her deceased father. Of course, Gillian made an effort in her book, too, to show that there were happy times and love. No stars for how Margaret took some of what Gillian had to say out of context. This leaves the book with a very iffy three stars.

I recall after seeing "Shine", I remarked to a friend that while I enjoyed the film, "It sadly doesn't happen that way in real life".

As a health professional who has worked for many years with people, including artists who suffered from schizophrenic disorders, I can affirm that Margaret Helfgott's book rings only, too true.

As a painful and loving testament to her father Peter, her family and her brother David, Margaret Helfgott takes the reader through the maze of distortion and lies by "Shine's" director Scott Hicks, David's second wife Gillian, and the commercial exploitation of David Helfgott by post production interests. Despite the distorted need to invent blame, the profound reality of David Helfgott's illness will not be altered by the many lies in "Shine" about his late father Peter and his family.

I could not put Margaret Helfgott's book down, and highly recommend it to anyone who saw the fiction of "Shine", read the screenplay, or are just interested in understanding the impact of schizophrenic-type disorders on patients and families.

Within five days of when I had first seen "Shine," I scoured the interenet for all the information I could and read both Gillian and Margaret's books. After reading the reviews of Margaret's book, I really didn't want to read it because the sheer ambiance of "Shine" was giving me sensory overload. But because that overload was much due to the fact that I thought "Shine" to be a true story, I told myself that I had to read all I could about David Helfgott, even if I didn't want to. I have to give Margaret credit for the courage it took to write this book. I started this book not believing any of it, then progressively started to wonder. I still am not sure what the exact truth is but I'm positive that much of what Margaret says is the truth. What I didn't like about the book was how she praised her father almost to the degree of sainthood. I believe a lot of what she says about Peter that the movie blatantly disregards, but I think that in the effort to say how wonderful a man he was, she neglected hardly any comment about Peter's humanity. Nobody is that perfect. I also disliked very much how she visciously attacks David's concert tour, becoming a hypocrite in saying that she believes that David is being "exploited" and that what Gillian is doing is only hurting him, and then lays bare every wretched thing that was said about him by music critics. And lastly, I can't help but feel just a tad bit of Jealousy from Margaret when I read this book. She feels it necessary to go into a few pages of her personal life growing up that had absolutely nothing to do with David, and even less to do with Peter. Plus she goes into extreme detail about all of her music accomplishments. I didn't pick up the book intending to read "The biography of Margaret Helfgott." I give it four stars. A definite must read for any David Helfgott or "Shine" fan who isn't scared of the truth.

This book was very well researched and written. It taught me a lot about David Helfgott and his real family, as well as the Holocaust and mental illness.

As a music lover I enjoyed reading about David's early successes at the piano, and was surprised to discover he had never collapsed on stage when playing the Third Piano Concerto by Rachmaninoff, as portrayed in the film.

I was amazed to learn that Peter Helfgott was not a Holocaust survivor at all, and that David had been married before.

The author, David's sister Margaret, has written a first class biography of her family and is to be congratulated on her courage in standing up to the film industry.

My father and I had viewed the movie "Shine" and enjoyed it before I read this book. I wish to commend David's sister and brother for attempting to set the record straight re: the truth about their father, David's first wife and David's mental illness. Hollywood would have had a good movie without fictionalizing the lives of this family and trying to pass off the movie as a biopic. That this movie was made and advertised as a true biography of David is an injustice to the family and to the mentally ill--exploitation to sell the second wife's book and make money at the box office. "Shine" is fictionalized and not a biopic. I will never be able to view the movie "Shine" in the way I previously did; I now believe it was an unethical and untrue exploitation to make money.

All in all this is a good read and an imporant countertbalance to the views/scenes depicted in Shine. As many have pointed out, Peter Helfgott was likely neither as brutal as portrayed in Shine nor as angelic as portrayed in Margaret's book. There is a great deal that Margaret writes that is corroborated by others and undoubetedly true. She cites affectionate letters between Peter and David written during the time of their alleged estrangement to refute the lack of contact shown in the film. She cites newspaper clippings showing that David performed publicly and was in good physical health during the period that Shine claimed he was "locked in a room away from a piano." Margaret interviewed many witnesses who spoke of David's progression into illness that belie the sudden onset seen in the movie. Also, it is clear that illness such as David's is not "caused" by a parent, but is an unfortuante part of heredity. It is likewise clear that Gillian is not the savior depicted in the movie, and Gillian's desctruction of David's relstionships with his family and friends and her domnierring control over his diet, psychological treatnent and performance schedule is clear even in Gillian's own book. The movie dramtizes and distorts in many instances.

Where Margaret loses a bit of credibility to me is in her disregard of David's own input. In both Shine and Gillian's book "Love You to Bits and Pieces," it was David who was the primary source of information about his arguments with his father and Margaret disregards his own words and stated memories of his childhood. Margaret also contradicts herself at points, for example, when writing of Peter's hesitation to allow David to travel to London, she first says Peter was in favor of the trip itself, but against other people's paying for it. She later states that her father "was correct to be opposed to the trip" because David could not fend for himself. Also, her bitterness towards David is pallable. The inclusion of a litany of Margaret's own accomplishments, intelligence, dating life and social successes, told against her stories of David's lack of social skills, inability to tie his own shoes (in her words), and her inclusion of every viscious word ever written by a critic about David smacks of jealousy. All in all, this is an important companion to Shine and refutes the movie's claims in many instances, but neither version of events should be taken as the absolute truth, as that, in all likelihood, is known only to David Helfgott.

Gillian Helfgott herself has said, "The film was inspired by David's life; it was never meant to be a documentary. Consequently, it has used some dramatic license and some characters have been amalgamated because of time restriction. The essence of the film was very close to David's experiences and the section of the film dealing with our life is almost documentary."

I am certain that most siblings would offer differing accounts of their childhood experiences; and each is certainly entitled to their own story. One need not discredit the other. I am interested by both sides and appreciate Margaret's account as it provides another level of information ... however, having met Gillian and David I would leave with another quote from Gillian's online chat:

"At the end of my book, David expresses his emotional reaction after he recorded the Rach 3 in Copenhagen. His father died in 1975 but he felt his presence with him very much and he frequently says: 'Daddy would be proud of me'"

Margaret Helfgott's book describes in a clear, factual, yet interesting manner, the REAL true story of David Helfgott and his family. She sites many concrete examples of inaccuracies within the film Shine that have led to much undeserved grief within the Helfgott family. I found her account very believable. I encourage anyone who was fooled, as I was, by the notion that Scott Hick's film, Shine, was a true story, to read Margaret Helfgott's book.

This is a remarkable book by any standards. Written to offset the savage portrayal of Ms Helfgott's father in the film Shine, it throws up many questions about the legitimacy of portraying real people in mainstream movies. Anguish and the pain of injustice leap from every page and make this not the easiest of reads, though still unputdownable. What Ms Helfgott and her collaborator Tom Gross have achieved in an apparently very short time is impressive and prompts the question why Scott Hicks, director of Shine, was unable to come up with something closer to the truth. The anwer is simple. They had a good story and didn't want the facts to get in the way of it.Peter Helfgott is not the first, or last, person to be slandered on film, but hopefully this excellent book will go a little way to redressing the balance.