Amadeus (1984)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Milos Forman

Writers:

Peter Shaffer (play)
Peter Shaffer (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 September 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

Amadeus. The man. The music. The magic. The madness. The murder. The mystery. The motion picture.

Plot:

The incredible story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback mode by Antonio Salieri - now confined to an insane asylum.

Plot Keywords:

Envy | Musician | Asylum | Flashback | Loss Of Father

Awards:

Won 8 Oscars. Another 32 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

F. Murray Abraham	...	Antonio Salieri
Tom Hulce	...	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Elizabeth Berridge	...	Constanze Mozart
Roy Dotrice	...	Leopold Mozart
Simon Callow	...	Emanuel Schikaneder / Papageno in 'The Magic Flute'
Christine Ebersole	...	Katerina Cavalieri / Constanza in 'Abduction from the Seraglio'
Jeffrey Jones	...	Emperor Joseph II
Charles Kay	...	Count Orsini-Rosenberg
Kenneth McMillan	...	Michael Schlumberg (2002 Director's Cut)
Kenny Baker	...	Parody Commendatore
Lisabeth Bartlett	...	Papagena
Barbara Bryne	...	Frau Weber
Martin Cavina	...	Young Salieri (as Martin Cavani)
Roderick Cook	...	Count Von Strack
Milan Demjanenko	...	Karl Mozart

Also Known As:

Amadeus: Director's Cut (USA) (director's cut)
Amadeus: The Director's Cut (USA) (director's cut)
Peter Shaffer's Amadeus: Director's Cut (USA) (director's cut)

MPAA:

Rated R for brief nudity. (director's cut)

Runtime:

160 min | 180 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (director's cut) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:PG (also director's cut) | Sweden:7 (director's cut) | Germany:12 (director's cut) | Malaysia:(Banned) (director's cut) | Iran:(Banned) (director's cut) | Philippines:X (director's cut) | Czech Republic:15 (director's cut) | Singapore:NC-16 (video rating) (cut) | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:PG (director's cut) | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) (director's cut) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) (director's cut) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-7 (re-rating) | Finland:S (original rating) | France:U | Hong Kong:II | Iceland:L | Mexico:C (director's cut) | Netherlands:AL (director's cut) | Norway:12 (original rating) | Norway:15 (director's cut) | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All (director's cut) | Spain:T (director's cut) | Sweden:11 (original rating) | Taiwan:PG-12 | USA:PG (No. 27396) | USA:R (director's cut) | West Germany:12 | Ireland:PG

Filming Locations:

Kromeriz, Czech Republic

Company:

The Saul Zaentz Company

Trivia:

According to Milos Forman's autobiography, one studio offered to provide funding for Amadeus (1984) on the one condition that Forman cast Walter Matthau (a reported Mozart enthusiast) for the role of Mozart. Forman refused the offer, considering Matthau to be too old for the role.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: This film is not a biopic. It is a work of historical fiction. Any "goof" which makes reference to historical events and personalities must be understood with this in mind.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Salieri: Mozart! Mozart, forgive your assassin! I confess, I killed you...

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Margical History Tour (#15.11)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Caro Mio Ben

Ravishing in sound and vision

The unseen star of this film is the Academy of St Martin's in the Field, London. Buy the soundtrack and you will be rewarded with some of the most stunning music you can hear. Mozart's music excells with brilliant treatment and dies with a bad performance. And that, after all, is what the film is about. Without his music, Mozart would be lost in time, a fate that the narrator of the story, the composer Salieri, saw as his own. Ironically, while Salieri has indeed been completely overshadowed by Mozart, his music still survives and has its followers.

But beyond the music this is an outstanding film. Set in the prettiest and most flamboyant century of the last millennium, it is visually stunning and the writer's portrayal of jealousy is perceptive. The casting of the Austrian King and courtiers, (indeed all the actors in this film) that Mozart needed to impress capture the gentility and courtesy of the time, and also subtly shows their growing indignation and impatience at Mozart's personality and behaviour; the presentation of Mozart as punk musician is probably the only failing in the film. As a theatrical device to show that genius can come in disastrous packages it succeeds well, but anyone with any historic sense of social ettiquette or manners will know that Mozart's sill y behaviour would be well wide of the truth, as might, perhaps, be the concept of Salieri as murderer-in-chief. Only in the final scenes is Mozart's brilliance as a composer truly explored in what amounts to a deconstruction of his final composition - his moving, uncompleted and poignant Requiem mass.

Another unintended star in this film are the candle lit sets and theatres of the 18th Century; their operas and drama ooze a magic that is lacking in the present world and which modern producers might well try to reintroduce; so lovely are these buildings with their flickering lights and theatrical techniques that one is left desperate to to seek out these rare theatres to experience them.

This film leaves one breathless from its visual beauty, its magnificent score and the choreography, indeed, of the two together. Mozart's life had the air of tragedy, and his undoubted genius speaks to us now and forever. This film is a monument to the skills of the writer, maker, performers and, of course, Mozart's music. If you have not yet done so, see it.