Review of Amadeus (1984) by Rainer K — 20 Aug 2011

The costume designer was definitely the busiest man on set - he was probably so overworked that he needed some drugs which is maybe the reason why all his costumes look like a maniac poured some colour all over them.

But Amadeus is not much of a historical accurate movie anyways so if you let that beside and see it as a fictional work of pop culture of the 80s it's a well-made film - and it's colourful and I usually like colourful films, settings and costumes.

What I didn't like though is Tom Hulce's acting as Mozart and his totally annoying giggles. Mozart would have never been such a genius if he had been such a moron, stupid, naive and overly eccentric how he is depicted in the film.

Antonio Salieri however is a wonderful, ambivalent character between admiration and hatred for his arch-enemy. We may never know how the relationship between the two musicians really was but they created a great movie character.

At the end some additional thoughts of mine I can't put in any order:

- the classic music is used very well (the composition scene with Mozart and Salieri at the end is particularly great).

- the female roles are an insult to all women (except for the later Constanze).

- I saw the director's cut - and it's too long (173 min).

Amadeus is not a bad film but nothing special in my opinion.