By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Phil Grabsky
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2007
Running time: 129
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498355/
Bruce says: “AMADEUS did Mozart great disservice, portraying him as silly and deluded during the last decade of his life. Phil Grabsky is out to set the record straight by tracing Mozart’s career from the time of his first known composition at the age of five
to his untimely death at the age of thirty five in 1791. The seventh child of his parents, Mozart was only the second child to survive. His father was a minor composer and was employed by the Archbishop of Salzburg where the family lived. In just thirty years Mozart created over 600 compositions. His achievements by any standard of measurement are astounding; for example, he composed 29 symphonies by the age of eighteen.
“The brilliance of Grabsky’s film is how he chooses to tell Mozart’s story. Although he peppers the chronology with an abundance
of dates and historical fact, each major composition discussed is accompanied by a filmed performance by a major artist. Singers, pianists and conductors offer their opinions of Mozart’s music, what it has meant to their careers and their souls. Mozart’s letters, written during the course of his endless travels and filled with toilet humor and bawdy comments, give the viewer a sense of the man in his own words. The reenactment of events by various actors playing Mozart at different ages brings the eighteenth century to life. Juliet Stevenson narrates.
“Mozart and his father (later, his mother) toured the courts of Europe looking for sponsors for Mozart’s compositions. The nomadic life was difficult for a child but Mozart’s focus and dedication to his work propelled him on. Decidedly middle class, Mozart grew up hobnobbing with kings and princes. That experience gave him considerable attitude, frequently the source of problems with his friends and colleagues. Mozart was constantly praised and rewarded so it was difficult when luminaries such as the Archbishop of Salzburg turned about and treated him like a servant. As an adult he was romantic and had a flair for billiards, cards and gambling. He regarded Hayden as his only peer. The period from 1782-1785 was the happiest of Mozart’s life. During that time he was his own impresario and staged his own concerts. For the first time in his life he felt he was fully rounded, not just a composing nerd. He married in 1782. Similar to his parents only two of his six children survived.
“Soprano Renée Fleming, pianist Lang Lang, tenor Ian Bostridge, baritone Simon Keenlyside, opera director Jonathan Miller, conductor Louis Langrée and clarinetist Eric Hoeprich are a few of the musicians who provide insight into Mozart’s music. The film is lengthy and one feels somewhat overburdened with information by the time the credits roll. I still have Köchel numbers floating around inside my head. 3.5 cats”