Tribute to Theodor Pištěk 2013 / Amadeus / USA 1984
A period fresco – and recipient of eight Oscars – exploring the time-honoured feud between genius and mediocrity. Court composer Antonio Salieri vainly craves Mozart’s talent and decides to involve his intractable rival in malicious intrigue.... This immortal parable, created with original artistic flair, was primarily shot in Prague.
This period drama – based on the stage play of the same name by Peter Shaffer and the recipient of eight Oscars – explores the time-honoured feud between genius and mediocrity. Court composer Antonio Salieri is wealthy and favoured in his social circle, however, he vainly craves Mozart’s talent. He decides to take action against his intractable rival – with that grating, high-pitched laugh – by involving him in malicious intrigue. Salieri thus propels him towards financial ruin and premature death. He only truly comes to recognise the power of Mozart’s music when he assists the latter as he writes his Requiem.... This multi-layered fresco depicts the contradictory relationships between individuals and authority figures, including God. The film which, at the time of its initial screening, inspired a whole new style of dressing, caricatures the philistine attitudes of self-complacent monarchs. It also touches upon the enduring conflict between consumer pressures and creative independence. A parable created with original artistic flair, the film was primarily shot in Prague (chiefly in the Estates Theatre) and involved the collaboration of a whole host of Czech names.
180 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Miloš Forman
/ Screenplay Peter Shaffer podle divadelní hry / based on the play by Peter Shaffer
/ Dir. of Photography Miroslav Ondříček
/ Music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
/ Editor Nena Danevic, Michael Chandler
/ Producer Saul Zaentz
/ Production The Saul Zaentz Company
/ Cast Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones
/ Contact The Saul Zaentz Company, Park Circus Group
Miloš Forman (b. 1932, Čáslav, Czechoslovakia) studied scriptwriting and script editing at FAMU and in the 1960s became one of the great pioneers of the Czech New Wave. He offered his ironic take on socialist stagnation in the three comedies Black Peter (1963), Loves of a Blonde (1965) and The Fireman’s Ball (1967). After the August invasion he moved to the USA, where his films took up tales of the conflicts borne by exceptional individuals in the face of decaying morality and destructive power. He rose to international fame with the anti-totalitarian parable One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), which won five key Oscars. He also spoke of the perils of freedom in the musical Hair (1979), the period fresco Ragtime (1981), the Mozart spectacle Amadeus (1984), the costumed morality piece Valmont (1989), the biographical mosaic The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), the tragicomedy Man on the Moon (1999), and in the drama Goya’s Ghosts (2006).
The Saul Zaentz Company
2600 10th Street, 7th Fl., CA 94710, Berkeley
United States of America
Phone: +1 510 486 2066
Fax: +1 510 486 2108
E-mail: [email protected]
Park Circus Group
15 Woodside Crescent, G37UL, Glasgow
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 141 332 2175
E-mail: [email protected]
Theodor Pištěk
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