Review of The Music Lovers (1971) by Thomas P — 05 Sep 2012

The great Ken Russell serves up another biopic of one of the great composers, this time, it's about Tchaikovsky (played by Richard Chamberlain), who once had a homosexual relationship with Count Anton Chiluvsky (Christopher Gable), but ended up marrying Antonina Milyukova (Glenda Jackson), the marriage becomes the cause of a creative block for Tchaikovsky, and it drives him and his wife to madness. Described by our Ken as "The story of the marriage between a homosexual and a nymphomaniac", he delivers style, visual beauty and good performances in an abundance. With a good script by Melvyn Bragg, (yes, that one), and beautiful cinematography by the great Douglas Slocombe. It's got imagery typical of Russell, (such as Jackson getting felt up by asylum inmates through a grate), but it brings out the best in Tchaikovsky's music.

He great Ken Russell was at the time of this film hot of Women In Love, and he got a 3 picture deal at United Artists as well. Here, he serves up another biopic of one of the great composers, but he's done it with his own, inimitable flair, and it's a shade of the excessive nature and over the top visuals that were soon to come in all of his films, but it's beautiful to look at. It's about Tchaikovsky (Richard Chamberlain), who once had a homosexual relationship with Count Anton Chiluvsky (Christopher Gable), and he struggled to get his music recognised and appreciated. Despite the relationship he had with Anton, Tchaikovsky ended up marrying Antonina Milyukova (Glenda Jackson), who is a nebbish, neurotic woman who likes to have a good time in the bedroom. The marriage becomes the cause of a creative block for Tchaikovsky, and it drives him and his wife to madness, Tchaikovsky has been tormented for years by the death of his mother because of cholera, but it soon leads to one of his greatest compositions, the 1812 Overture, and how it soon made him one of the best composers of his time.. Described by Ken as "The story of the marriage between a homosexual and a nymphomaniac", he delivers style, visual beauty and good performances in an abundance. With a good script by Melvyn Bragg and beautiful cinematography by the great Douglas Slocombe. It's got imagery typical of Russell, (such as Jackson getting felt up by asylum inmates through a grate), but it brings out the best in Tchaikovsky's music.