Best Picture: "Amadeus," 1984

Movie Stats:

Released 1984 (USA)

American, in English (some non-translated Italian & German, although it’s in the form of opera, which I personally can never understand no matter what language it’s in)

Director – Milos Forman (who last brought us One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)

Stars – F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Jeffrey Jones

Plot Summary:

In the court of Austrian Emperor Joseph II (Jones), royal composer Antonio Salieri (Abraham) is driven to the point of madness by envy of the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Hulce). Berridge co-stars as Mozart’s wife, Constanze. (I also feel compelled to note the appearance of baby Cynthia Nixon as Mozart’s maid.)

Warnings:

Mild blue language; brief male nudity (including a glimpse of peen).

Bad Stuff:

It’s boring.

It’s not nearly as clever/funny as it seems to think it is.

Personal pet peeve: I hate it when a movie is set in a time when interpersonal language (especially amongst the higher classes) was extremely formal and yet the dialogue in the film is very informal. It makes it difficult for me to get swept up in the make believe.

Hulce’s crazy-ass laugh.

Good Stuff:

The music. The best part about this film is that it’s a celebration of Mozart’s work.

The costumes.

I really loved Jones’s performance. I found him consistently amusing.

I have no idea what the nature of Salieri and Mozart’s relationship was in real life. Within the context of the film, however, I was struck by the scene toward the end where Salieri was helping Mozart transcribe his Requiem. I thought it was a perfect encapsulation of the whole film. Here were these two men who could have had a tremendous friendship that might have resulted in some amazing work and yet none of that ever came to pass because of Salieri’s all-consuming jealousy. It was tragically, awfully beautiful.

The Verdict:

There were moments of brilliance, but mostly I was just bored. I have nothing more to say than that.

I give the movie 2.75 stars.