A penniless middle-aged spinster scrapes by giving piano lessons in the Dublin of the 1950s. She makes a sad last bid for love with a fellow resident of her rundown boarding house, who imagines she has the money to bankroll the business he hopes to open.

Maggie Smith
as Judith Hearne

Bob Hoskins
as James Madden

Wendy Hiller
as Aunt D'Arcy

Marie Kean
as Mrs. Rice

Ian McNeice
as Bernard Rice

Rudi Davies
as Mary

Prunella Scales
as Moira O'Neill

Áine Ní Mhuirí
as Edie Marinan

Sheila Reid
as Mrs Friel

Niall Buggy
as Mr Lenehan
CinemaSerf
Maggie Smith offers quite a compelling performance in this adaptation of Brian Moore's novel. She is the eponymous piano teacher, having fallen on hard times since the death of her aunt (Dame Wendy Hiller). She comes to live in a boarding house in Dublin where she encounters a rather curious dynamic...