Amadeus

Annotation for KRRR! 2023 by Jiří Stejskal

In his New Wave era, Miloš Forman won over Czechoslovak and foreign audiences with several films that realistically showed ordinary situations and characters in which anyone could find themselves. After emigrating to the USA, however, he had to change his style of directing and storytelling from the ground up, which he not only managed to do, but also scored twice at the American Film Academy Awards with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus. His international success was so extraordinary that he was even able to film Amadeus in his native country for the first time in many years, and although he brought his entire American crew with him, he was also able to secure work for many of his old friends on Hollywood sets. In 1985, the film received thirteen Academy Award nominations, eight of which went to Forman (and two statuettes went to Czech filmmakers Theodor Pištěk and Karel Černý).

In the winter of 1825 in Vienna, the old composer Antonio Salieri unsuccessfully attempts suicide and is taken to a mental hospital, where he is given the opportunity to confess. He begins to tell the story of his old rivalry with the brilliant composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. While Salieri had to work long, hard and difficult to attain his position as court composer to the emperor, Mozart received his talent "as a gift from God". What is more, because of his childish and irresponsible behaviour, he gave Salieri the impression that he did not even appreciate his gift. Then, when Mozart gets into financial trouble because of his lavish and unhealthy lifestyle, Salieri decides to take advantage of it...

The main storyline, however, is Mozart's life itself, the depiction of which follows a pattern that is also used in later biographical films about musicians. A talented musician emerges who is suddenly liked by a limited audience at first and later by a wide one. He becomes rich and famous, but as a result he ceases to master the vice that brings him to the bottom - and he is forced to confront his own shortcomings. We can certainly recognize a similar "Amadeus" pattern in films like The Doors (1991), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), and Rocketman (2019), but we don't find Forman's strongest weapon in them, namely the theme of the clash between mediocrity and genius. Indeed, although Salieri's rivalry with Mozart is more of a minor plotline, it's what makes Amadeus easy to understand and timeless.