Sand and Chopin depart for Majorca, relieved to escape the competitive nature of artistic alliances and jealousies in Paris. The film's supporting performances include David Birkin as Maurice, John Savident as Buloz, Lucy Speed as Young Aurora, and Elizabeth Spriggs as Baroness Laginsky. Sarah Kernochan, director James Lapine's wife, had written the film in 1988 during a lay-off due to 1988 Writers Guild of America strike. Kernochan explained the film: "How do complicated people find a simple way of loving?" The producer Stuart Oken liked the project; his concern was to give Lapine "a chance to realize his vision and become a movie director." Oken brought the project to his friend and fellow producer, Dan Sherkow, who secured financing and distribution for the picture. For the cast, Lapine wanted "to use people he had worked with before." He cast actors who "didn't look like, but embodied the characters." Judy Davis and Mandy Patinkin could "hardly look more unlike the cultural icons they portray." Lapine hired a piano coach and a music consultant to advise both Grant and Sands on various piano techniques. Due to Common Market legalities, the film was incorporated as a British production with co-production by Ariane Films, a French company and distribution by a United States company Sovereign Pictures. The budget was $6 million. Chopin:  Liszt:  Beethoven:  "Impromptu" was released on 12 April 1991 in the United Kingdom. It was later broadcast on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre in 1993. "Impromptu" has received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 76% based on 17 reviews, with an average score of 6/10. Jeff Millar of the "Houston Chronicle" wrote that the film is "a zingy, impudent little essay on gender, with the exquisitely confusing George Sand at its center." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" awarded the film 3/4 stars, writing, "The film has little serious interest in George Sand, and almost none in the novels that are all that remain of her, but diverts itself with scandal, atmosphere, location, and witty repartee." Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" gave the film a positive review, likening it to the films of Ken Russell. Speaking of director James Lapine's approach, Maslin said, "Handling this material playfully, he tosses together the film's artistic luminaries and allows them to indulge in outrageous antics, like the scene that finds Sand pleading for Chopin's affections and telling him she needs only a minute of his time to explain her feelings.""The New Yorker" reviewer wrote that the film was "an ebullient and absurdly entertaining account of the famous love affair of George Sand and Frédéric Chopin. ...