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Format: DVD
Dec 1997
Rated PG
Recording Mode: Dolby Surround AC-3
Sound: Stereo, Surround, HiFi
Closed Captioned
158 min.
Color
UPC: 085393621827 |
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Movie Description
In a lavish 18th Century parlor in Austria, an elderly man is found, by his servant, with his throat slashed. The wound is self-inflicted, and the man is the little-known composer Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), contemporary and adversary of the now-famed, but once reviled, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce). Later, from his cell in an insane asylum, Salieri tells a priest (Herman Meckler) the story of his association with Mozart, confessing that he actually killed the brilliantly gifted but troubled young man. Based on the award-winning play by Peter Shaffer, Milos Forman's riveting, brilliant, Oscar-winning AMADEUS is a fictionalized account of the real-life mysterious death of Mozart. Abraham, in the role that won him the Best Actor Oscar, is the celebrated court composer to Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones)--his confidence and religious dedication shaken when he meets the boorish 26-year-old Mozart as he chases his future wife (Elizabeth Berridge) around a party while making obscene remarks. Furious that this clownish boy can produce such beautiful music, Salieri determines to keep Mozart's talent from lasting recognition and sets himself on a course for Mozart's destruction that leads to his own as well. Mozart continues to mount beautiful, moving operas (incredibly staged in the film), but becomes obsessed with writing a Requiem as his friends, family, health, and resources waste away, Salieri's manipulating presence always there. It is hard to imagine anyone--whether they are knowledgeable about classical music or not--who would not be held captive by this superb feast for the eyes and ears, a film whose excellence can be felt in every detail.
Synopsis
A film biography of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The story is seen through the eyes of rival court composer Antonio Salieri on the eve of Salieri's suicide.
He is at once fiercely jealous of and totally awestruck by the young Mozart, whose genius as a composer undeniably exceeds that of any other writer Salieri has heard -- including himself. Salieri's unbridled jealousy of Mozart's soaring reputation, even as his own wanes, leads him to try to drive Mozart to his death by anonymously commissioning Mozart's final "Requiem Mass."
Paradoxically, however, it is the obsessed and resentful Salieri who can most truly appreciate the brilliance of Mozart's revolutionary music., Ripe with great performances and directed passionately by Czech Milos Forman (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, HAIR, RAGTIME), this lavish production stars Tom Hulce as the brilliant hedonistic composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri, his mediocre nemesis. Elizabeth Berridge sportingly plays Mozart's earthy, girlish, adoring love, Constanze. Jeffrey Jones also turns in a remarkable performance as Emperor Joseph II. The story begins with Salieri's deathbed confession and flashes back to explain his desire for revenge. Thwarted by nature, the talentless Antonio Salieri believes that Mozart's music is divine. He wishes he were himself as good a musician as Mozart so that he could praise the Lord through composing. But he can't understand why God favored Mozart, such a vulgar creature, to be His instrument. Salieri's envy has made him an enemy of God, whose greatness is evident in Mozart. Miroslav Ondricek exquisitely filmed this literate, intelligent work of cinema on location in Prague. The screenplay is based on Peter Shaffer's play and was rewritten by Shaffer for the screen.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1
Snap Case
2-Disc Set
Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Dolby Digital Surround - French
Additional Release Material:
Documentaries - 1.THE MAKING OF AMADEUS
Trailers - Original Theatrical Trailer
Isolated Music Score - Sir Neville Marriner - Conductor
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Biographies - Cast & Crew
Additional Products:
Booklet - 1. 16-Page Commemorative Booklet
CD - 1. AMADEUS Soundtrack
Limited Edition Senitype
DVD Features:
Region 1
Snap Case
Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Dolby Digital Surround - French
Additional Release Material:
Trailer - Original Theatrical
Isolated Music Score - Sir Neville Marriner - Conductor
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Biographies - Cast & Crew
Shot on location in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
AMADEUS is number 53 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies.
The opera sets were designed by Josef Svoboda.
The staging of DON GIOVANNI in the film was shot at the Tyl Theater, the actual site where Mozart conducted the opera's premiere some 200 years earlier.
Industry Reviews
"...An unexpected and strangely moving spectacle..."
Sight and Sound - p.142-3 - Gilbert Adair
"...[Hulce] gets better and better....[Forman] has preserved the fascinating heart of [the play]....Well done."
New York Times - p.C23 - Vincent Canby
"...AMADEUS is loaded with pleasures....[Abraham] is quietly excellent..."
Variety - Cart.
"...Milos Forman's opulent drama is sheer quality..."
Total Film - Ceri Thomas (07/01/2000)
"A class act."
Uncut - Uncut Staff (08/01/2000)
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