Amadeus

I adore classical music, and Mozart is one of my favourite composers. When I came across Amadeus in my local charity shop, I knew I had to buy it. I watched it, and I loved it from start to finish. It is true it is not necessarily a true depiction of Mozart's life, but I was so blown away by the quality of the acting, sets, costumes and music that I forgot about that. The film is just gorgeous to look at, Vienna in the film (Prague in real life) looks beautiful, but the sets and costumes are colourful and lavish. The music is utterly majestic, from the Marriage of Figaro, Queen of the Night(brilliantly sung in what is one of the most difficult colouratura arias ever), Requiem in D minor to Don Giovanni, it was a feast to the ears. The script I thought was of exceptional quality particularly during the finale of Marriage of Figaro(one of the most beautiful tender moments in any opera is where the countess forgives her husband), and the direction was very fine. As many reviewers have pointed out, this is more about the mediocrity and envy of Salieri than it is of the eccentric genius of Mozart, thus the story was compelling and intriguing. The acting is wonderful; Tom Hulce is excellent as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, yeah his laugh is a tad grating, but I loved the manic and eccentric interpretation Hulce gave. Elizabeth Berridge is suitably petite and alluring as wife Constanze while Jeffrey Jones is delightful as Emperor Joseph II. For me though, F Murray Abraham gave the film's best performance, for he was absolutely outstanding as Salieri. Overall, brilliant film, gorgeous to watch, amazing music and essentially a must see! 10/10 Bethany Cox