Amadeus
Academy Award × 8·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
What critics thought
Forman's adaptation of Peter Shaffer's stage play landed as a sweeping, richly performed piece of filmmaking, with Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham drawing particular praise for their charged central performances. The historical liberties — Mozart reimagined as a vulgar, giggling savant — have irritated music historians and purists who felt the film traded the stage production's gravity for something more lurid. Critics broadly celebrated it, though a dissenting view held that the translation from stage to screen cost the material some of its weight and power.
“magnificent film, full and tender and funny and charming”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Hulce and Abraham share a dual triumph in a film that stands as a provocative and prodigious achievement”
Peter Travers·People
“stature and power the work possessed onstage have been noticeably diminished”
Todd McCarthy·Variety
Genres
Biography, Drama, Music
Cast & Crew
DirectorMiloš Forman
StarringF. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice
Amadeus
Academy Award × 8·National Film Registry
Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
What critics thought
Forman's adaptation of Peter Shaffer's stage play landed as a sweeping, richly performed piece of filmmaking, with Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham drawing particular praise for their charged central performances. The historical liberties — Mozart reimagined as a vulgar, giggling savant — have irritated music historians and purists who felt the film traded the stage production's gravity for something more lurid. Critics broadly celebrated it, though a dissenting view held that the translation from stage to screen cost the material some of its weight and power.
“magnificent film, full and tender and funny and charming”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Hulce and Abraham share a dual triumph in a film that stands as a provocative and prodigious achievement”
Peter Travers·People
“stature and power the work possessed onstage have been noticeably diminished”
Todd McCarthy·Variety
Genres
Biography, Drama, Music
Cast & Crew
DirectorMiloš Forman
StarringF. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice
Rent/Purchase