A masterpiece, worthy of the genius it describes

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2006)

Vienna -18th Century. The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from the angle of his relationships with Hapsburg Emperor Joseph II's Court Composer, Antonio Sallieri. Mozart is here described as a naughty spoiled brat, misbehaving with ladies, disrespectful of authority, wasting the money he really does not have. Overall, a man yearning for the youth he had been denied, a genius laughing at the inability of common people, a human being tortured by the music he cannot live without. Sallieri on the other hand, second-rate musician but true lover of music, probably understands Mozart better than anybody else. "Here was the very voice of God", he says of Mozart's music. "I was staring through the cage of meticulous ink stokes at an absolute beauty". But he cannot bring himself to help the genius he is so jealous of. Indeed, he will destroy him ("I will ruin your incarnation", says he to God) and destroy himself in the process. A masterpiece, powerful, beautiful, enhanced by Mozart's music. Brilliant.