Amadeus (1984) on Netflix
R19842h 40mBiographyDramaMusic
Vienna's court composer Antonio Salieri, confined to a psychiatric hospital in 1823, claims he murdered Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He tells a priest how God let a vulgar prodigy outshine him.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb8.4/10473,430 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes90%
Trailer
Plot summary
In his youth Antonio Salieri loves music, but his father forbids him to study it, so he vows to God that he will devote his chastity, diligence and faithfulness to him if he becomes a famous composer. His father dies soon after, and Salieri reads this as a sign that the vow was accepted. By 1774 he is court composer to Emperor Joseph II in Vienna, well off and respected, though he knows the emperor has no ear for music. Then he meets Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the child prodigy he grew up hearing about, and finds a man who is obscene, immature and dissolute, and who never needs a second draft of his music. Unable to see why God would choose such an instrument, Salieri renounces God and vows to destroy Mozart.
Cast
- Martin Cavanias Young Salieri
Show all 20 cast
- Milan Demjanenkoas Karl Mozart
- Peter DiGesuas Francesco Salieri
- Patrick Hinesas Kappelmeister Bonno
- Nicholas Keprosas Archbishop Colloredo
- Martin Cavinaas Young Salieri (as Martin Cavani)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Amadeus (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Mark Hamill, who replaced Curry as Mozart towards the end of the stage play's Broadway run, was rejected by Forman because of his association with Luke Skywalker: Forman believed audiences would not accept him as the composer.
- Meg Tilly, cast as Mozart's wife Constanze, tore a ligament in her leg the day before shooting began and had to be replaced at the last minute by Elizabeth Berridge.
- An elderly, ailing Laurence Olivier, presenting the Best Picture Oscar, skipped reading the nominees entirely and just named the winner, forcing an Academy official to rush onstage to confirm it was legitimate.
- The film's premise of Salieri murdering Mozart is fiction; music historian Harold C. Schonberg wrote that the claim has been debunked, with Mozart's actual death attributed to kidney failure.
- The movie portrays Salieri as a chaste, pious loner, when in reality he was married with eight children and had at least one mistress.
- Mozart's onscreen pink wig still exists, in the permanent exhibition of the Acadian Museum at the University of Moncton; it was created by Paul LeBlanc, who won an Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the film in 1985.
