Amadeus

Amadeus

1984 - USA - 158 min. - Feature, Color

AMG Rating (High Production Values, High Artistic Quality)

Director Milos Forman

Genre/Type Comedy Drama, Musical Drama, Period Film, Biography

[feature]

Flags Adult Language, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children

Keywords ambition, grief, competition, composer, crazy, murder,

genius, guilt, jealousy, mentor, mother, music, rival, suicide,

talent, young, classical-music, life-savings

Themes Tortured Genius, Musician's Life, Bohemian Life

Tones Witty, Whimsical, Irreverent, Humorous, Satirical, Quirky

Box office Domestic gross: $51, 600, 000

Key name Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, Salieri, Antonio

Set In 18th century

Color type Technicolor

Cinematic Process Panavision

Sound by Dolby

Produced by Orion / Saul Zaentz Co.

For this film adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Broadway hit, director

Milos Forman returned to the city of Prague that he'd left behind

during the Czech political crises of 1968, bringing along his usual

cinematographer and fellow Czech expatriate, Miroslav Ondricek.

Amadeus is an expansion of a Viennese "urban legend" concerning the

death of 18th-century musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From

the vantage point of an insane asylum, aging royal composer Salieri

(F. Murray Abraham) recalls the events of three decades earlier,

when the young Mozart (Tom Hulce) first gained favor in the court of

Austrian emperor Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones). Salieri was incensed

that God would bless so vulgar and obnoxious a young snipe as Mozart

with divine genius. Why was Salieri-so disciplined, so devoted to

his art, and so willing to toady to his superiors-not touched by

God? Unable to match Mozart's talent, Salieri uses his influence in

court to sabotage the young upstart's career. Disguising himself as

a mysterious benefactor, Salieri commissions the backbreaking

"Requiem," which eventually costs Mozart his health, wealth, and

life. Among the film's many pearls of dialogue, the best line goes

to the Emperor, who rejects a Mozart composition on the grounds that

it has "too many notes." Amadeus won 8 Academy Awards, including

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor

for F. Murray Abraham. - Hal Erickson

Amadeus is a rarity: a dramatic film made by people who understood

music as much as filmmaking. A celebration of music and genius, the

film exults over Mozart's seemingly divine creations even as it

refuses to canonize the man behind them. Instead, the decision to

tell the story from Salieri's point of view provides a justly

critical portrait of Mozart, and in so doing so it provides a

commentary on genius that mines trenchant insight from resolute

objectivity. That Mozart's music is beyond reproach is never called

into doubt; likewise, that the man himself could be utterly

reproachful is also beyond question. Paradox is at the film's core,

both in the presentation of Mozart and his music, and in the

character of Salieri, who managed to be both Mozart's greatest fan

and most punishing detractor. In making this sort of paradox its

central theme, Amadeus is one of the most illuminating pictures of

genius ever committed to celluloid. Part of its brilliance lies in

its principal performances: in Tom Hulce's Mozart, we see a man

equally un-self-conscious about his genius and his vulgarity, and in

F. Murray Abraham's Oscar-winning Salieri, we see the tragedy that

results from the inability of talent to live up to desire. These

performances are lavishly complemented by the music in question, a

forceful character in its own right. Part of Forman's great

acheivement as the film's director was bringing this music to

millions who had never set foot inside of an opera house or theatre,

with a passion and immediacy that could appeal to a much wider

audience than just classical music enthusiasts. - Rebecca Flint
F. Murray Abraham - Antonio Salieri

Tom Hulce - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Elizabeth Berridge - Constance Mozart

Simon Callow - Emanuel Schikaneder

Roy Dotrice - Leopold Mozart

Christine Ebersole - Katerina Cavalieri

Jeffrey Jones - Emperor Joseph II

Charles Kay - Count Orsini-Rosenberg

Kenny Baker - Parody Comendatore

Lisbeth Bartlett - Papagena

Best Actor (nom) Tom Hulce 1984 Academy

Best Actor (win) F. Murray Abraham 1984 Academy

Best Adapted Screenplay (win) Peter Shaffer 1984 Academy

Best Art Direction (win) Karel Cerny 1984 Academy

Best Art Direction (win) Patrizia Von Brandenstein 1984 Academy

Best Cinematography (nom) Miroslav Ondrícek 1984 Academy

Best Costume Design (win) Theodor Pistek 1984 Academy

Best Director (win) Forman, Milos 1984 Academy

Best Editing (nom) Nena Danevic 1984 Academy

Best Editing (nom) Michael Chandler 1984 Academy

Best Makeup (win) Dick Smith 1984 Academy

Best Makeup (win) Paul LeBlanc 1984 Academy

Best Picture (win 1984 Academy

Best Sound (win) Chris Newman 1984 Academy

Best Sound (win) Tom Scott 1984 Academy

Best Sound (win) Mark Berger 1984 Academy

Best Sound (win) Todd Boekelheide 1984 Academy

Best Director 1984 Directors Guild of America

Best Foreign Film (win) Milos Forman 1984 French Academy of Cinema

Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Peter Shaffer 1985 British Academy

Awards

Best Cinematography (nom) Miroslav Ondrícek 1985 British Academy

Awards

Best Costumes (nom) Theodor Pistek 1985 British Academy Awards

Best Film (nom 1985 British Academy Awards

Best Production Design (nom) Patrizia Von Brandenstein 1985 British

Academy Awards

Editing Award (nom 1985 British Academy Awards

Makeup Award (nom) Dick Smith 1985 British Academy Awards

Sound Award (nom) Dick Smith 1985 British Academy Awards

Best Actor (Drama) (win) F. Murray Abraham 1985 Golden Globe

Best Actor (in Drama) (win 1985 Golden Globe

Best Director (win 1985 Golden Globe

Best Director (win) Milos Forman 1985 Golden Globe

Best Film (Drama) (win 1985 Golden Globe

Best Film (in Drama) (win 1985 Golden Globe

Best Screenplay (win) Peter Shaffer 1985 Golden Globe

Editing Award (nom) Michael Chandler 1986 British Academy Awards

100 Greatest American Movies (win 1998 American Film Institute

Is related to 1989- Valmont (Milos Forman)

Is related to 1977- Equus (Sidney Lumet)

Is related to 1976- Mozart - Aufzeichnungen Einer Jugend (Klaus

Kirschner

Is related to 1969- The Royal Hunt of the Sun (Irving Lerner)

Is related to 1948- The Mozart Story (Karl Hartl, Frank Wisbar)

Is related to 1938- The Great Waltz (Julien Duvivier)

Is related to 1935- Casta Diva (Carmine Gallone)