Solid

Rating: 6/10 (6 September 2008)

I found that the film was not at all as I expected- a staid Merchant-Ivory type production mixed with a hint of Masterpiece Theater. This was both good and bad. On the positive side is the very dramatic structure of the film, being told from Mozart's inferior rival's, Antonio Salieri's (F. Murray Abraham), point of view. On the down side is the over the top performance by Tom Hulce, as Mozart, especially with that pointlessly distracting guffaw. Also, as the DVD delineates which scenes were altered, extended, or added in toto, it becomes obvious that director Milos Forman's original cut was the superior, as none of the added scenes adds palpably to the thrust of the film. Yes, I liked the added scene of Mozart's wife, Constanze (Elizabeth Berridge), getting naked to try to sexually please Salieri, to advance her husband's career, for Berridge was certainly a major hotty with the body back then, but, despite my prurient interest, the scene is pointless. Unfortunately, in either version, this is nowhere near a great film. It's a fun, solid romp, but the American accents and slang that infiltrate Eighteenth Century Viennese society are just too much, as is Hulce as Mozart. No, a staid portrayal of the man would have been dull, but a genius as idiot savant, or a step above, is not worthy of this dramatic treatment, either. That it only heightens Salieri's frustration is dramatically defensible, but since the whole notion of Salieri's envy and hatred of Mozart is a historical fiction, there really was no reason to go so over the top in the first place.
The rest of the cast does fairly well. Berridge as the clueless wife, Jeffrey Jones, as Emperor Joseph, is a dolt with a heart, who doesn't understand how to run his own life, much less a nation.All in all, I would recommend the film, but as a light diversion, not a serious inquiry in to art nor the artistic mindset. That film has yet to be made.