Description: Amadeus (1984, Dir. Miloš Forman) DVD — Two-disc Director’s Cut. Plot In the winter of 1823, Antonio Salieri is committed to a psychiatric hospital after surviving a suicide attempt, during which his servants overhear him confess to murdering Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The young priest Father Vogler approaches Salieri for elaboration on Salieri's confession. Salieri recounts how, even in his youth in the 1760s, he desired to be a composer, much to his father's chagrin. He prays to God that if He makes Salieri a famous composer, he will, in return, promise his faithfulness. Soon after, his father dies, which Salieri takes as a sign that God has accepted his vow. By 1774, Salieri has become court composer to Emperor Joseph II in Vienna. Seven years later, at a reception in honor of Mozart's patron, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Salieri is shocked to discover that the transcendentally talented Mozart is obscene and immature. Salieri, a devout Catholic, cannot fathom why God would endow such a great gift to Mozart instead of him and concludes that God is using Mozart's talent to mock Salieri's mediocrity. Salieri renounces God and vows to take revenge on Him by destroying Mozart. Mozart's alcoholism deteriorates his health, marriage, and reputation at court, even as he continues to produce brilliant work. Salieri hires a young girl to pose as Mozart's maid and discovers that Mozart is working on an opera based on the play The Marriage of Figaro, which the Emperor has forbidden. When Mozart is summoned to court to explain, he manages to convince the Emperor to allow his opera to premiere, despite Salieri and the advisers' attempts at sabotage. When Mozart is informed that his father has died, he writes Don Giovanni in his grief. Salieri recognizes the dead commander in the opera as symbolic of Mozart's father and concocts a scheme; he leads Mozart to believe that his father has risen to commission a Requiem. He then plans to kill Mozart once the piece is finished and premiere it at Mozart's funeral, claiming the work as his own. Meanwhile, Mozart's friend Emanuel Schikaneder invites him to write an opera for his theatre. Mozart obliges despite his wife Constanze's insistence that he finish the Requiem. After arguing with Mozart, Constanze leaves with their young son, Karl. Mozart's new opera, The Magic Flute, is a great success, but the overworked Mozart collapses during one performance. Salieri takes him home and persuades him to continue the Requiem, offering to take the bedridden Mozart's dictation. The next morning, Mozart thanks Salieri for his friendship, and Salieri admits that Mozart is the greatest composer he knows. Constanze returns and demands that Salieri leave immediately. In her guilt, she locks the unfinished Requiem, keeping it away from Salieri, and Mozart dies from exhaustion. Mozart is taken out of the city and unceremoniously buried in a mass grave during a rainstorm. Back in the present day, Vogler is too shocked to absolve Salieri, who surmises that the "merciful" God preferred to destroy His beloved Mozart rather than allow Salieri to share in the smallest part of His glory. Salieri promises, with bitter irony, to both pray for and absolve Vogler along with all of the world's mediocrities as their "patron saint". As Salieri is wheeled down a hallway, absolving the hospital's patients of their own inadequacies as he passes by, Mozart's laughter rings in the air. Please check postage options
Price: 15 AUD
Location: Black Forest, SA
End Time: 2024-12-10T07:17:34.000Z
Shipping Cost: 16.29 AUD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Case Type: Tall/DVD Case
Rating: PG
Custom Bundle: No
Director: Milos Forman
Studio: Warner Bros
Edition: Director's Cut
Type: Movie
Format: DVD
Region Code: DVD: 4 (AU, NZ, Latin America...)
Release Year: 1984
Actor: F. Murray Abraham
Genre: Musicals & Broadway
Movie/TV Title: Amadeus