Amadeus Review

Number 104 on the top 1000 films of all time is Milos Forman's 1984 Amadeus.

Amadeus centres on the life and career of the 18th-century classical composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce.)  It is told from the perspective of his greatest rival Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham.)  Salieri, jealous of Mozart's success, befriends Mozart with the intention of murdering him and passing off Mozart's Requiem, as his own work.

Similar to other historical films, such as Braveheart, Amadeus takes a little, or in this case, a lot of creative license, in the name of creating an entertaining film.  It plays with the popular misconception that Salieri despised Mozart, when they were actually great friends, with Salieri going on to tutor Mozart's son.  However, this doesn't remove from the fact that Amadeus is a good, entertaining film.  What might take away from this is how Amadeus, like Braveheart, is three hours long, but unlike Braveheart, isn't entertaining throughout.  However, I'll come to this later.

The film open on an elderly Salieri attempting to commit suicide.  After his attempt fails, he is taken to a mental asylum.  The image of the mental asylum was a frightening one, as mental illness was something not well understood in the 18th century.  There were men locked in cages and others running amok.  Salieri, himself, is in his own private room and is visited by Father Vogler (Richard Frank) who intends to hear his confession.  This is where Salieri explains his long relationship with Mozart.  The rest of the film is told retrospectively from Salieri's perspective.

We discover that Salieri is part of the cultural elite in Vienna, as well as the court composer of Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones.) Salieri believes his musical successes are a gift from God, and when the child prodigy Mozart arrives on the scene, Salieri is keen to meet him thinking that his talents are also a gift from God.  This is where Salieri sees that despite Mozart's talent, he is obnoxious, immature and rude.

I feel that this is usually the case of many child geniuses and I think that Tom Hulce played the role well.  His portrayal of Mozart was no doubt annoying, especially with his irritating frilly laugh (a nice touch by Hulce) but I also think realistic of child geniuses and the pressures that they go through.  Mozart has many contentious relationships, including with his father and wife Constanza (Elizabeth Berridge.) I also enjoyed Berridge's portrayal of Constanza.  She was a loyal and loving wife, but her relationship to Mozart becomes increasingly strained.  This is the result of the family's finances growing and the Mozart's commissions decreasing.

When Mozart is commissioned by an undercover Salieri to write the Requiem, but also by Emanuel Schikander (Simon Callow) to write the Magic Flute, he becomes agitated and paranoid, pushing his marriage and health to breaking point.  Hulce portrays this relationship well and his transformation is good to see.  He goes from a talented, but spoilt brat into a dedicated and obsessive composer who prioritises his work over his health.  Eventually, the stress of his working life is enough to kill him.

Salieri's transformation was also powerful to see.  Initially, he is only mildly threatened by Mozart's talent, especially after Mozart upstages him by effortlessly playing his "March of Welcome," after only hearing it once.  Yet, Salieri becomes obsessed with defeating Mozart, believing that God is using Mozart to mock Salieri's own mediocrity.  Mediocrity is a big theme of the film and Salieri's greatest fear.  His obsession becomes his greatest downfall, as it transforms into guilt, leading to his internment at the mental asylum.  F. Murray Abraham did well to convey this and I think he was well deserving of the Oscar he won.

The regular cut of Amadeus is 2 and a half hours long.  I watched the Director's cut which is closer to 3 hours.  It did not need to be 3 hours.  At times, I found it quite tedious and on other occasions, I almost fell asleep.  By far the most boring sections were the actual operas and performances.  I know that this is a film about classical composers, so operas are bound to crop up, but they slowed down the pace of the film.  This is probably more of a personal criticism, as I've never had a great interest in operas, but I didn't find these sections very interesting.