Great music, slanderous "history"

Rating: 8/10 (25 August 2004)

After not having seen "Amadeus" for many years, I impulsively bought the director's cut edition which was on sale at the local wholesale club. It is everything I remember about it.
First the good...
The score is wonderful! As noted in the bonus materials, the music - all Mozart's and not adapted - actually becomes another character in the movie. It's glorious! Milos Forman also made the conscious decision to use a variety of Mozart's music and not just a few familiar pieces and it adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the movie. Of course, the other can work well as well - e.g. "Elvira Madigan", where Mozart's 21st piano concerto became "the Elvira Madigan theme".
The direction and cinematography are gorgeous and impeccable. This is a beautifully-crafted film which invokes a great sense of time and place.
Now for the bad...
The myth of Salieri's murder or attempted murder has been around since the time of Mozart. It's the sort of juicy story that just develops a life of its own, despite all evidence to the contrary. It's unfortunate that it has been perpetuated by so many - from Mozart's time to Pushkin to Shaffer. The

Mozart's portrayal as childish and vulgar is inaccurate. He had a sense of humor and fun. Sometimes his sense of humor was vulgar in interaction with those closest to him, but he certainly knew how to conduct himself as a professional in public. In the movie, he is depicted as both immoral and an alcoholic toward the end of his life. Affairs have been speculated, but almost anyone who draws public attention has to endure such speculation, true or not. In Mozart's case, there is no serious evidence to back up the gossip. Certainly, he was not a drunkard! Also, although he was certainly not wise in his handling of his financial affairs, he was just as surely not without students and lived quite comfortably for most of his adult life.
Salieri's portrayal as a mediocre composer is also wrong. Salieri was certainly in the shadow of Mozart, but he was a talented composer of mostly operas (unlike Mozart, Salieri rarely composed instrumental music). Had Mozart not lived at the same time, Salieri would certainly have been better known, but then the same could be said of almost every contemporary composer. It's worth noting that Salieri's students included Beethoven and Liszt.
Costanze's portrayal is closer to the truth, but still misses the mark. By all accounts, she was a devoted wife and Mozart was devoted to her. She certainly did not leave for "the spa" when he was sick. The backstory of her as the daughter of Mozart's landlady ignores the fact that she was the younger sister of a girl Mozart had wanted to marry when he and his mother were in Paris. The older sister eventually became famous as a prima donna and spurned him. Mozart remained in good terms with the family and was boarding with them in Vienna when he and Costantze developed into a couple. Leopold Mozart was opposed to the marriage mostly because the family had a reputation for what we would call a Bohemian lifestyle.
Leopold Mozart's portrayal is more accurate, but then his isn't a fleshed-out character in the show. Leopold's relationship with his son was complex and, after the death of Mozart's mother, increasingly strained. The motives imputed to him by the script are not only wrong, but over-simplified. One thing we do know for sure is that it was not Salieri that commissioned the requiem mass. Count Walsegg-Stuppach was the mysterious "man in gray" who intended to pass the work off as his own.
While I enjoyed the movie enough to give it an 8 rating, it's unconscionable to think that many people may accept its slanders as truth.