Laughed not Mozart, laughed the Lord Undoubtedly an outstanding film, which intertwined two such topics as the relationship with God and historical facts. I’ve heard a story since I was a kid that when Mozart wrote the funeral march, he thought he was writing it for himself. As everyone knows, that's what happened. And this is the painting. After watching, I was somewhat confused. I had no idea that Mozart was such a reveler, a merry man, and so on. I thought he was some nerdy man who, on winter nights sipping a glass of wine, wrote his great plays. But it wasn't like that at all. But the film is not about the life and death of Mozart, it is about the tragic fate of Antonio Salieri. But everything in order.
The film received many awards, and it’s scary to think, 8 Oscar figurines, and besides them, 3 more unwinnable nominations, here they are:
Oscar, 1985
Winner (8):
Best Film
Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham)
Best Director (Milos Forman)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best decorations
Best costumes
Best sound
Best makeup
Nominations (3):
Best Actor (Tom Hulse)
The best work of the operator
Best Editing
I would like to dwell on some of them in more detail.
Well, first of all, as this film is far from being about our era, so it was clear that the costumes and scenery would be top notch. That's how it happened. Since this film is musical, it was clear that the sound here will be at the proper level. As well as makeup, wigs on all persons turned out just great. But here are the other awards and nominations:
Acting game:
There are 2 great male roles of the first plan. I like Tom Hulse better than Abraham. Hals had a more difficult role, as he played a fervent man, and he had much more performances in the opera. Abraham looked faint on his background. But someone may think that hatching insidious plans in your head is much more difficult than waving your hands on stage and laughing about it and without it.
But there is also a completely wonderful role of the second plan. I mean, of course, the Emperor. A man who thinks he knows everything about opera, even though he can’t really play himself.
Screenplay:
If I have no complaints about acting, then I have complaints about the script. First, monotony. The whole film seems to live from one production to another, and some minor events happen between them. At first I liked it, but then I got bored, given that I’m not a fan of classical music, the number of such scenes could be reduced. After all, the main thing in the film is not that, but the confrontation of Salieri and Mozart, the confrontation of two different characters, views, countries, in the end. Mozart was stupid but talented. Salieri was hard-working but had no such talent. Between them there was a kind of unspoken battle, which Mozart did not even suspect. Another theme of the film is the relationship between man and God. Salieri always blamed everything on him, all failures, victories, literally everything. It showed that a person believes only in fate, not in chance. They say, “This is the will of God.” You can’t live the same way, and soon he renounced him. Still, it seems to me that this topic is not sufficiently disclosed, and the emphasis is paid on the constant sound of music, and this, in my opinion, is a big, and perhaps the only, minus of this film.
In the end, I got a great musical-drama film, from which I learned a lot about the life of Mozart, this film literally changed my idea of him. But the script still pumped up a little, but everything else is at the highest level. Take a look and enjoy it.
9.5 out of 10
Original