Amadeus: The Director's Cut

Milos Forman, USA, 2002, 180 minutes

Back in 1984, when the Academy Awards actually meant something, Amadeus picked up no less than eight of the little gold men, and it deserved every one of them.

Amadeus is the (partly fictional) story of two composers in 18th century Vienna. Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), the court composer for Emperor Joseph of Austria is successful and highly regarded, yet his music is nothing more than average. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce), on the other hand, is a vulgar, immature young man and an irritation to his superiors, but also happens to write the greatest music the world has ever heard.

Salieri realises this and soon becomes consumed with jealousy and hatred, whilst at the same time remaining in awe of Mozart’s work. He sets about using all his power and influence to try and destroy Mozart’s career, but at every turn he is defied. Finally Salieri thinks of a new plan… what if he were to kill Mozart? And how would he do it?

Amadeus is told from the perspective of Salieri, making his confessions to a priest in his old age after a suicide attempt, and in doing so succeeds in allowing the audience to truly comprehend the extent of Salieri’s madness. The film is often accused of historical inaccuracies, but it was never meant to be a true-to-life biography of Mozart; it is instead an interpretation of the many legends surrounding the relationship between the two composers.

Amadeus is one of the rare occasions where every element of a film is at it’s best: Milos Forman’s expert direction; a superbly captivating screenplay; beautiful cinematography and art direction; two stunning performances from the two leads (Abraham went on to beat Hulce to the Oscar) and of course possibly the greatest musical score in the history of cinema. Miss this film and you’ll be missing one of the greatest achievements in motion picture history.

The director’s cut adds twenty minutes of new and extended scenes, some of which in fact provides key moments of character development that uncover deeper meaning to some of the film’s later scenes. This ensures that this new version only improves upon the original, making the film even more essential viewing.

Review by Iain Jackson
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2003