This Oscar winner is so much more than a biopic
Lavishly shot on location in Prague using candlelit 18th-century architecture and extravagant costumes, Milos Forman's opulent epic retells the life of the musical wunderkind Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce, up until then best known for National Lampoon's Animal House) through the tormented eyes of his older, less-talented rival, Antonio Salieri (F Murray Abraham). Where the religious Salieri is ascetic and disciplined, Amadeus is hedonistic and childish, his genius seemingly a gift from God. After years spent consumed by jealousy, the embittered Salieri becomes obsessed with plotting Mozart's downfall.
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An adaptation of Peter Shaffer's elegantly constructed play, the narrative probes the agony of unfulfilled ambition. That Abraham's on-screen career subsequently eclipsed Hulce's is a pleasing dramatic irony.★★★★★
PG, 153min
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