Analysis Movie Amadeus - Essay Example

Full Film Aesthetics in Amadeus Beethoven once said that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. There is indeed something in music that speaks more to the soul than what words or actions could explain. This is perhaps the reason why music is used in films to express further the messages that dialogues, high performing actors or ingenious directors could ever communicate. One of the most illustrious movies ever made that employs and exhibits various musical performances is Amadeus. The movie is the main subject of this analysis and the investigation will focus not only on the story, characters and directors but will also thoroughly discuss the music and scenes. Amadeus tells the story of the great musician, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is narrated by his rival, Antonio Salieri. His story is a flashback to the events of his acquaintance with the young prodigy who was well-spoken of in the field of music. Mozart was considered a genius, performing in the presence of kings, emperors and the pope while Salieri was still playing common games with his equally pauper friends. As Salieri grew, he became more and more passionate with music but his father did not share the same dreams that he had. Fortunately, at least for the young Salieri, his father died and as fate would have it, the orphan was adopted and educated in Vienna, rising to the position of court composer. Salieri first encounters his mischievous contender at a performance for the prince archbishop of Salzburg where Salieri finds out that his rival is actually an immature and reckless person. His contention towards the young musician grew stronger as the two are finally formally introduced in the emperor’s palace. Salieri, the court composer produced a marching piece for Mozart’s entrance as he was invited to the palace. Later, Mozart plays it without a copy and even suggests some revisions for the music in front of the emperor and his guests. This starts Salieri’s jealousy toward Mozart and his enmity with God. He then uses his position to influence the emperor and other officials of the court in order to stagnate Mozart’s career. Consequently, Mozart and his family suffered financially and the musician slowly became a drunkard. Mozart’s depression further worsened when his father died and his health deteriorated. With his vice and financial troubles, Mozart’s wife, Constance, finally leaves with their son. The genius still continued with his works but his health progressively worsened until he finally collapsed during his last opera. Salieri was there to help him and bring him home. Eventually, the court composer offers his help to finish the opera that was emotionally making Mozart sick and they try to meet the demands of his anonymous employer to finish the opera in time. Salieri serves as the ailing Mozart’s secretary as the latter dictates from his bed. Unexpectedly, Constance returns home and discovers Salieri in their house. She asks him to leave but Salieri refuses, commenting that he will obey Mozart. As the two sought the musician’s opinion, they find out that he is already dead. Salieri lives to witness the death of his music and suffers from his conscience, claiming he killed Mozart. He spends the rest of his life in an asylum for lunatics (Forman). Milos Forman’s directorship of the film is simply astounding. The story is ingeniously performed from the acting to the music, making the narration beautiful, alive and very believable. Watching the movie, one can almost believe the story to be true. However, records show that some of the details in the movie do not compliment actual circumstances. Although Mozart and Salieri have been known to become friends during Mozart’s latter years, they were never known to have grudges against each other. In fact, they are even known to have worked on some music together. It is assumed by many scholars that what Salieri and Mozart contended for, was their position in the emperor’s palace (biography.com). With Mozart’s talent, Salieri perhaps felt threatened so that he controlled Mozart’s performances as an influential person in the palace. Otherwise, that would simply have been Mozart’s father’s suspicions. Knowing his son’s abilities, the older Mozart thought the people at the palace were limiting his son’s success. Most probably, such suspicion is the source of the accusation which was later rumored; that Salieri poisoned Mozart because of his pride and envy toward the younger musician (biography.com). Nevertheless, the characterization of the two main characters in the movie has been quite realistic and moving especially with the interlude of Mozart’s music. As a movie that narrates about the story of two musicians, Amadeus utilizes music as a major component of the film. Music is very vital in the play and is taken with such great consideration so that it actually helped the story come alive (Kurowska). The music was presented through various perspectives and this made it more interesting and entertaining to watch. The movie starts with an off screen sound, showing the outside of the room from where the sound comes from. Foley artists are shown, creating the sounds that project the common day to day activities such as walking and a cart wheeling away. Slowly, the camera takes the viewers into the house, introducing Salieri’s servants who walk toward their master’s room. For the first two minutes, the sound of the man from the room is heard but the character is not visible until the servants barge into his room and find him on the floor, bleeding. As the servants carry the wounded man out to the streets, a soft and lonely soundtrack is heard. Parallelism comes into play as the music reinforces the forlornness of the scene. Then, the music becomes faster and louder as the pathetic Salieri in a basket carried by his servants, passes through the sights and sounds of people going on with their everyday life, unconcerned about the man who was feeling the pains of his tragedies. As a counterpoint to the harrowing image of Salieri, the scene alternately shows men and women dancing in the royal courts, laughing and enjoying as the music blows to a triumphant and joyful sound, cuing the climax of the song and a change of the scene. The music suddenly stops and the voices and noise of the patients are heard while the priest moves to Salieri’s room. When the priest is seated and Salieri begins to tell his story, a wonderful unfolding of events take place through the various techniques employed by the director. The narration is not boring as might be expected because the scenes often bring the characters alive in the storytelling of the main character. For instance, when Salieri talks about his family, he is shown to be carried away by his emotions, almost able to hear and see the characters really portraying their parts. Again, music plays an essential role, connecting the scene at the asylum to the recollections of the composer. Sound bridging is used in this particular scene which smoothly transitions the present to the past events. While Salieri is still speaking about his father’s religiosity and commerce, the music from the church is already heard before the scene showing Salieri’s family in the church, praying, is even shown. This technique makes a melodramatic tone throughout the movie, often alternating music with the dialogues but always concentrating on delivering the events chronologically. In most of the scenes, diegetic sounds were used. The conversations and music played were heard as the players where the sounds come from, are shown on the scenes. For instance, in most of the operas, although the narration is understood to be done by the main character himself and the scenes are seen through his recollections, segments in the movie bring to life the characters the narrator is talking about. However, non-diegetic sounds are also used in the film. An example of this is seen at the Mozart’s home where the musician is writing one of his operas. No one is seen playing the music but the composer is busy working, suggesting to the viewers that what Mozart is actually writing is the music he hears in his head which is the music the viewers are hearing. This same technique is also used in the episode when Mozart and his wife go to a concert to be performed by Mozart himself. The music starts as they ride in a carriage from their house and continues as the events show the audience and Mozart playing the piano at the concert. Simultaneously, Salieri intrudes into Mozart’s house and his study, looking into the composer’s work. The scenes at the concert and Mozart’s house are alternately presented while the music continues. Whenever Mozart’s concert is shown, the music plays louder but when the setting changes to his house, the music seems to play from a distance. Such interplay of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds creates tension and suspense. Moreover, semi-diegetic or internal diegetic sounds are also largely employed. Since the narration is a flashback, the director tried to bring out the scenes which were playing in the narrator’s mind. When Salieri tested the musical knowledge of his audience, the priest, he wondered at how unfamiliar his music was to him. When he plays his second song, he raises his hand as if he was conducting at an opera, all the while hearing the other instruments being played and the performer singing. The priest sits, stunned at the old man, unable to hear the performance he is talking about and is imagining in his mind. Then, the scene changes to the opera; showing Salieri in his younger days, gloriously conducting at the opera, hearing all the applause and praises of his audiences. Although the priest is not able to see and hear the sights and sounds, Salieri remembers them like they were happening at that time. He even holds his chest and slightly bows as if he was being applauded at that very moment as he remembers his celebrated days. More film aesthetics throughout the film is presented. For instance, when Salieri first sees Mozart in person at the archbishop’s house playing hide and seek with his girlfriend, they go to a room which separates them from the noise outside. As Mozart closes the door, the noise fades and the sound is focused on the lovers’ dialogue. Suddenly, from a distance, Mozart hears the music faintly playing. As he opens the door, the sound becomes louder and even louder as he approaches the musicians or the source music. The change in volume expresses sound perspective which effectively synchronizes the scenes and sounds, an explanation which can only be presented through such technique. When Mozart starts conducting and all the audiences stood by to witness, the sound simply gets louder, suggesting the nearness of the narrator as a part of the crowd. The movie is undeniably wonderful. However, to the untrained audience, it could have been nothing but a movie that simply plays the music of a well-known musician. Thanks to the narrator, the movie is actually made simple and understandable even by the viewer who is not interested in music. Salieri did not simply narrate the story but he also explains the highly musical parts of the movie, taking the attention and interest of viewers (Kurowska). As a result, the commonest viewer is able to enjoy and understand the music as well as the completeness of the narration. In conclusion, Amadeus is not simply a movie presenting many musical scenes. It is rather a narration that incorporates music naturally because of the characters of the story. The actors played their parts well and brought to life the characters that they portrayed. However, there should be much credit that should be given to the director as well who creatively used film aesthetics to present an enjoyable and entertaining movie. Sounds played an essential part in the narration since the main characters are both musicians. However, the music was not simply taken and incorporated in the film. Rather, the director arranged the music and scenes in such a manner that it complemented the narration. In order to achieve such success in the movie, film aesthetics such as off screen sound, foley artists, soundtrack, parallelism, counterpoint, cue, sound bridge, melodrama, dialogue, diegetic, non-diegetic, internal diegetic, sound perspective, source music and many more were used. As a whole, the narration has been presented in a very moving manner. References Amadeus. Dir. Milos Forman. Perf. F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice, Simon, Callow, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey jones. Warner Brothers Pictures, 1984. . Kurowska, Malgorzata. “Peter Shaffer’s Play Amadeus and its Film Adaptation by Milos Forman”. 1998. Web. March 10, 2014. . n.a. “Wolfgang Mozart: Biography”. Bio, True Story. 2013. Web. March 10, 2014. . Theresia, Maria. “Biography of Antonio Salieri”. Salieri-online. 2009. Web. March 10, 2013. . Read More