The Pianist was a 1998 Catalan-language

Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

 film directed by Mario Gas, and based on a novel by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán was a prolific Spanish writer: journalist, novelist, poet, essayist, anthologue, prologist, humourist, critic, as well as a gastronome and a FC Barcelona supporter....

. It tells the story of two musicians, played in their old age by Serge Reggiani

Serge Reggiani

Serge Reggiani was an Italian-born French singer and actor. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight...

 and Laurent Terzieff

Laurent Terzieff

Laurent Terzieff was a French actor.- Biography :Laurent Terzieff was the son of a plastician and of Jean Terzieff, a Russian sculptor who emigrated to France during the First World War. The original surname of his family was Čemerzin.The spectacle of the bombardments had a dramatic effect on...

 and in their youth by Pere Ponce and Jordi Mollà

Jordi Mollà

Jordi Mollá Perales is a Spanish actor, filmmaker, writer and artist.Mollà's artwork is represented in the Carmen De la Guerra Gallery in Madrid, Picasso Mio Gallery in Madrid and Barcelona and Cold Creation Gallery in Barcelona...

, who were friends at the onset of the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. They meet 60 years later, and we are presented with the strikingly different paths which they took in the circumstances of the war.