Amadeus (DVD)

This is a review of the film only. I have always loved music – I was set to study music at university before I decided to study finance instead. But my love of music, especially as a clarinettist, was rooted with one composer who wrote the most wonderful music not just for my instrument but for the majority of instruments and orchestras. This composer was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. So it is not surprising that I have a particular soft spot for this 1984 Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest) film based on Peter Shaffer’s 1979 stage play. It is a firm favourite of mine not just because of the music but because it is simply a stunning and beautiful ...  Read the complete review

There are two major forms of biopics in existence. One is the strictly factual that is the rarer of the two to find, where the life of the person depicted is presented as it really was. The other is the romantic Hollywood take, which presents the life of the person depicted as Hollywood thinks they should have lived their lives. This leads to embellishments, inaccuracies and often pretentious romanticising, which leads many biopics to be complete failures. Then there is Amadeus, which doesn’t sit comfortably with either definition, but which can most readily be described as being historic fiction. Unlike other films taking major liberties with historical fact, Amadeus is ...  Read the complete review

Amadeus is a 1984 film directed by Milos Forman and adapted from Peter Shaffer's stage play. The story is based on the life and times of 18th century composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) and Antonio Salieri (F Murray Abraham). Salieri was an Italian composer-conductor who enjoyed special status at the Viennese Court of Joseph II. In this somewhat apocryphal take (Salieri was apparently a relatively talented composer who got on quite well with Amadeus in reality) the obstreperous arrival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a brash young genius with an annoying laugh and a disdain for convention, suddenly makes the respected Salieri, much to his eternal bitterness, look ...  Read the complete review

Amadeus 'Love of God', the 80's film about the genius and life of Mozart. Let's just say that this film is so good, not many have attempted to portray Mozart on film since..... Milos Forman's biopic of the composer is a dramatic classic in its genre and a sensational celebration of Mozart's life and music....and of the effect of his talent and work on others too; the effect of genius... It's still as fresh today as it's release, thanks to its excellent and sensitive application of his timeless music to charismatic scenes with Tom Hulce, the brash actor who brings an interpretation of Mozart to passionate life. The production ...  Read the complete review

If I were to list my top ten favourite films of all time, this tour de force directed by Milos Forman from the stage play of the same name by Peter Shaffer would be at the top. That it won so many Oscars (8 including best picture), nominations and other accolades is testimony to the sheer overall excellence of the production. It is a film that I have watched several times over the last five years and its 'goose bump' factor has never wavered. I now have two versions of the film in my library. The plot of the film is well known. It recounts the short whirlwind life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from spoiled irreverent brat to tortured, pathetic genius. The ...  Read the complete review