Bioskop Kompasiana Film #16: Amadeus

BIOSKOP KOMPASIANA

Bioskop Kompasiana Film #16

Amadeus

Amadeus Peter Shaffer's Amadeus is a 1984 musical film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century. The film was nominated for 53 awards and received 40, including 8 Academy Awards (including Best Picture), 4 BAFTA Awards, 4 Golden Globes, and a DGA Award. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked Amadeus #53 on its 100 Years... 100 Movies list. Currently, the director's cut is rated R by the MPAA for brief nudity. The theatrical version received a PG rating at its release.

Plot

The film begins in 1823 as Salieri, as an old man, attempts suicide by slitting his throat while loudly begging forgiveness for having killed Mozart in 1791. Placed in a lunatic asylum for the act, Salieri is visited by a young priest who seeks to take his confession. Salieri is sullen and uninterested but eventually warms to the priest and launches into a long "confession" about the relationship between himself and Mozart. As the scenes later cut back to this dialogue, it appears that Salieri's tale goes on through the night and into the next day. This dialogue comprises a frame story, with the bulk of the movie being flashbacks to Mozart's lifetime. Salieri reminisces about his youth, particularly about his devotion to God and his love for music and how he pledges to God to remain celibate as a sacrifice if he can somehow devote his life to music. He describes how his father's plans for him were to go into business, but Salieri suggests that the sudden death of his father, who choked to death during a meal, was "a miracle" that allowed Salieri to pursue a career in music. In his narrative, he is suddenly an adult joining the 18th century cultural elite in Vienna, the "city of musicians." Salieri begins his career as a devout, God-fearing man who believes his success and talent as a composer are God’s rewards for his piety. He is content as the court composer for Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Mozart arrives in Vienna with his patron, Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, the Archbishop of Salzburg. Salieri secretly observes Mozart at the Archbishop's palace, but they are not properly introduced. Salieri sees that Mozart off-stage is irreverent and lewd. He also first recognizes the immense talent displayed in the adult works of Mozart. In 1781, when Mozart meets the Emperor, Salieri presents Mozart with a little "March of Welcome," which he had toiled to create. At this meeting, Mozart first displays a childish high-pitched laugh which is heard, at times, throughout the rest of the film. After hearing the march only once, Mozart spontaneously "improves" this piece with minimal effort, transforming Salieri's "trifle" into the "Non più andrai" march from his opera The Marriage of Figaro. Salieri reels at the notion of God speaking through the childish, petulant Mozart, whose music he regards as miraculous. Gradually, Salieri’s faith is shaken. He believes that God, through Mozart's genius, is cruelly laughing at Salieri's own musical mediocrity. Salieri's struggles with God are intercut with scenes showing Mozart's own trials and tribulations with life in Vienna: pride at the initial reception of his music; anger and disbelief over his subsequent treatment by the Italians of the Emperor's court; happiness with his wife Constanze and his son Karl; and grief at the death of his father Leopold. Mozart becomes more desperate as the family's expenses increase and his commissions decrease. When Salieri learns of Mozart's financial straits, he finally sees his chance to avenge himself, using "God's Beloved" (the literal meaning of "Amadeus") as the instrument. Salieri hatches a complex plot to gain ultimate victory over Mozart and over God. He wears a mask and costume similar to one he had seen Leopold wear and commissions the composer to write a requiem mass, giving Mozart a down payment and the promise of an enormous sum upon completion. Mozart begins to write perhaps his greatest work, the Requiem Mass in D minor, unaware of the true identity of his mysterious patron and his scheme: to somehow kill him when the work is complete. Glossing over any details of how he might commit the murder, Salieri dwells on the admiration of his peers and the court when they applaud the magnificent Requiem and him when he claims to be the music's composer. Only Salieri and God would know the truth – that Mozart wrote his own requiem mass, and that God could only watch while Salieri finally received the fame and renown he deserved. Mozart's financial woes continue and the composing demands of the Requiem and The Magic Flute drive him to the point of exhaustion as he alternates work between the two pieces. Constanze leaves him and takes their son with her. His health worsens and he collapses during the premiere performance of The Magic Flute. Salieri takes the stricken Mozart home and tricks him into working on the Requiem. Mozart dictates while Salieri transcribes throughout the night. As Constanze returns that morning, she tells Salieri to leave. Constanze locks the manuscript away despite Salieri's objections, but as she goes to wake her husband, Mozart is dead. The Requiem is left unfinished, and Salieri is left powerless as Mozart's body is hauled out of Vienna for burial in a mass grave. The film ends as Salieri finishes recounting his story to the visibly shaken young priest. Salieri concludes that God killed Mozart rather than allow Salieri to share in even an ounce of his glory, and that he is consigned to be the "patron saint of mediocrity." Salieri absolves the priest of his own mediocrity and blesses his fellow patients as he is taken away in his wheelchair. The last sound heard before the credits roll is Mozart's high-pitched laughter.

Cast

• F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri
• Tom Hulce as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Elizabeth Berridge as Constanze Mozart
• Roy Dotrice as Leopold Mozart
• Simon Callow as Emanuel Schikaneder / Papageno
• Richard Frank as Father Vogler
• Christine Ebersole as Katerina Cavalieri / Konstanze
• Jeffrey Jones as Emperor Joseph II
• Charles Kay as Count Orsini-Rosenberg
• Cynthia Nixon as Lorl, Salieri's maid
• Roderick Cook as Count Von Strack

(Amadeus film)

F.Murray_Abraham

F. Murray Abraham, 2008 Fahrid Murray Abraham (born October 24, 1939)[1] is an ethnic Assyrian American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface. He is also known for his television and theatre work. (F. Murray Abraham)

VTomHulce

Tom Hulce, December 2006 Tom Hulce (born Thomas Edward Hulce on December 6, 1953) is an American actor and theater producer. As an actor, he is perhaps best known for his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Mozart in the movie "Amadeus" and his role as Pinto in "Animal House". Additional acting awards included a total of four Golden Globe nominations, an Emmy Award and a Tony Award nomination. Hulce retired from acting in the mid-1990s in order to focus upon stage directing and producing.[1] In 2008, he received a Tony Award as a producer of the Broadway musical "Spring Awakening." (Tom Hulce)

Elizabeth Berridge Elizabeth Berridge (born May 2, 1962) is an American film and theatre actress. She is best-known as one of the stars of the award-winning 1984 film Amadeus. Berridge was born in New Rochelle, New York, the daughter of Mary L. (née Robinson), a social worker, and George Berridge, a lawyer.[1] The Berridge family settled in Larchmont, New York where she attended Chatsworth Elementary School, there she began to perform and sing. Due to her acting commitments, she earned her diploma through an independent-study program at Mamaroneck High School.[2] Berridge is married to actor Kevin Corrigan, who played minor roles in the Martin Scorsese films The Departed and Goodfellas. Berridge was called in to audition for the part of Constanze Mozart after filming had already commenced in Prague on Amadeus. The actress who had begun the role, Meg Tilly, injured her leg in a neighborhood soccer game and had to quit the project. Two actresses were flown to Prague, and after a week's auditions Berridge was given the part (supposedly because the other actress was "too pretty" to play the part of an innkeeper's daughter).[3] Berridge (and the other cast members) remained in Prague for six months to complete the onsite filming.[4] (Elizabeth Berridge)

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