Amadeus. The man. The music. The magic. The madness. The murder. The mystery. The motion picture.
Who could make a film about the life of a dead white European classical music composer that would be anything but worthy and dull? Peter Shaffer and Milos Forman, that's who. Adapted from Shaffer's stageplay, Amadeus (the middle name of Wolfgang Mozart) is a highly entertaining film, a wonderful portrayal of creative genius and the feelings of people around a creative genius, positive and negative, and a very effective dramatic packaging of the music of Mozart.
In Vienna, Austria, in the late 1700s, Emperor Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones), a rather dull-witted but enthusiastic and well-meaning, if undiscriminating, patron of music, is surrounded by a group of master musicians, with vested interest in maintaining their influence over him. Into their midst comes the young hugely gifted composer and performer, Mozart (Tom Hulce), whose brilliance, to their annoyance, far outshines anyone else's. The current leading light, Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), finding himself beginning to be eclipsed by this new star, begins a secret "dirty-tricks" campaign against Mozart, while at the same time pretending to work on Mozart's behalf.
The story is structured as a series of flashbacks, narrated to an incredulous priest by an apparently victorious, aged wheelchair-bound Salieri, incarcerated in a madhouse, and fixated on the idea that, many years ago, he murdered Mozart. Telling the story mainly from Salieri's point of view is a very effective device. Unlike the rest of his contemporaries, apparently, Salieri has the capacity to fully appreciate the beauty of Mozart's music and the seemingly superhuman power of his genius, is transported by the music, flooded with admiration for the ability to create it. Through Salieri, we, the audience, are brought to feel a similar appreciation. What Salieri, and to an extent, we, the audience, cannot understand is why a person of such obvious personal failings as this arrogant crass immature youth should be chosen to be the vessel of (divine) inspiration, rather than a more deserving recipient, such as himself. Viewing Mozart through Salieri's twin emotional filters of admiration and jealousy intensifies our appreciation of Mozart's genius.
As well as providing an excellent way to view the genius of Mozart and an appreciation of his music, Salieri's jealousy of Mozart provides the engine that drives the story forward. Paraphrasing Sherlock Holmes' remark to Dr Watson about mediocrity, Salieri's tragedy is that he has the talent to recognise genius in others, but not the talent to create genius in himself. In so far as Salieri cannot possess that which he loves best, he will be compelled to act to destroy it, and these actions provide the trials that beset Mozart and start to take their toll on his career and his family life. With regard to historical accuracy, according to Wikipedia, in order to heighten the dramatic thrust of the story, Shaffer used a large measure of artistic licence, pretty well inventing Salieri's dirty tricks campaign and even tampering with Mozart's character, making him more childlike in his personal life than he probably was.
Whatever the case as regards historical accuracy, this is a really enjoyable film that succeeds in dramatising musical genius with a compelling story and a masterful script. The staging of the musical numbers is terrific. The choice of an all-American cast was apparently controversial at the time, but did not bother me, maybe because I'm half-American myself. Amongst a host of excellent performances, including Hulce, with his signature giggle, in the title role (Wikipedia says Hulce is thought to have based his performance partly on the character of the irascible tennis player John McEnroe), and Jones as the slightly dimwitted Emperor, the performance by F. Murray Abraham as Mozart's nemesis, Salieri, is simply outstanding. Interestingly, both Hulce and Abraham were nominated for Best Actor Oscars; Abraham won. The film also won seven other Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus
- Rating: Exceptional
- When seen: 7 Apr 2011
- Where seen: Home
- More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia
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Amendments: Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.
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