I was induced to watch this film by one of the actors. I had avoided it for over 30 years, but finally one winter's evening I decided to 'give it a go'.
Extravagant, glitzy, trashy, vulgar (very Hollywood), it bore very little resemblance to reality. The only actor who impressed me was Jeffrey Jones as the Emperor Joseph II : not an easy role to play. The script was witty in a very superficial way, but was enlivened every now an again by a snippet of Czech directorial genius.
The part of Mozart was cringe-worthy. Hollywood wouldn't dare to portray coprolalia (if indeed Mozart suffered from it) on screen, so instead he made silly little giggles which were neither convincing nor shocking. This interpretation, like the whole script, seemed to me meretricious.
It is a tragedy when brilliant directors are bought over to Glitzland to have their talents diluted with crap. First Polanski, then Forman. Let us rejoice that Jan Svankmajer remained in Bohemia and made some of the best films ever, and that Tarkovsky got diluted only by the Swedes.
I know that the main script-writer was the dramatist of the original and celebrated stage play, which I never saw (living 300 miles from a posh theatre), but shame on him if Forman and co. Corrupted his text, and shame of him if they did not.
For anyone wanting (a) good entertainment, and (b) Mozart's music (not in snippets), I would recommend Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni.
'Wolfie' (Wölfling) may have had Tourette's, or BPD or 'autism' (a condition which is now widely-enough defined to include the whole human species plus some dogs and other creatures in captivity), but this portrayal of him did him no favours.
Thank goodness that Peter Schaffer didn't get to triviialise Brahms!
Extravagant, glitzy, trashy, vulgar (very Hollywood), it bore very little resemblance to reality. The only actor who impressed me was Jeffrey Jones as the Emperor Joseph II : not an easy role to play. The script was witty in a very superficial way, but was enlivened every now an again by a snippet of Czech directorial genius.
The part of Mozart was cringe-worthy. Hollywood wouldn't dare to portray coprolalia (if indeed Mozart suffered from it) on screen, so instead he made silly little giggles which were neither convincing nor shocking. This interpretation, like the whole script, seemed to me meretricious.
It is a tragedy when brilliant directors are bought over to Glitzland to have their talents diluted with crap. First Polanski, then Forman. Let us rejoice that Jan Svankmajer remained in Bohemia and made some of the best films ever, and that Tarkovsky got diluted only by the Swedes.
I know that the main script-writer was the dramatist of the original and celebrated stage play, which I never saw (living 300 miles from a posh theatre), but shame on him if Forman and co. Corrupted his text, and shame of him if they did not.
For anyone wanting (a) good entertainment, and (b) Mozart's music (not in snippets), I would recommend Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni.
'Wolfie' (Wölfling) may have had Tourette's, or BPD or 'autism' (a condition which is now widely-enough defined to include the whole human species plus some dogs and other creatures in captivity), but this portrayal of him did him no favours.
Thank goodness that Peter Schaffer didn't get to triviialise Brahms!