How long is the film amadeus

I absolve you all. Sign In. Play trailer Biography Drama Music. Director Milos Forman. Peter Shaffer original stage play Zdenek Mahler uncredited. Top credits Director Milos Forman. See more at IMDbPro. Top rated movie Trailer Photos Top cast Edit. Milos Forman. Peter Shaffer original stage play original screenplay Zdenek Mahler uncredited. More like this. Watch options.

Storyline Edit. Antonio Salieri believes that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 's music is divine and miraculous. He wishes he was himself as good a musician as Mozart so that he can praise the Lord through composing. He began his career as a devout man who believes his success and talent as a composer are God's rewards for his piety.

He's also content as the respected, financially well-off, court composer of Austrian Emperor Joseph II. But he's shocked to learn that Mozart is such a vulgar creature, and can't understand why God favored Mozart to be his instrument. Salieri's envy has made him an enemy of God whose greatness was evident in Mozart. He is ready to take revenge against God and Mozart for his own musical mediocrity. The man The music The madness The movie was shot on location in Forman's native Prague, one of a handful of European cities still in large parts unchanged since the 18th century.

The film is a visual feast of palaces, costumes, wigs, feasts, opening nights, champagne, and mountains of debt. Mozart never had enough money, or much cared; Salieri had money, but look at his face when people snicker behind his back while he plays one of his compositions, and you will see what small consolation it was. Many of them seem inspired entirely by the desire to sell another video. Forman says his new version of "Amadeus," which runs 20 minutes longer than the version, is in fact the original cut: Afraid that a historical biopic about Mozart would find tough sailing at the box office, Forman and Zaentz made trims for pragmatic reasons.

The major addition to the film is a scene explaining more fully why Constanze has such contempt for Salieri. Salieri, the court composer, has in his gift a lucrative appointment that, he explains to the young bride, will be her husband's--if she will grant Salieri her favors. Since there is little indication that Salieri has any great interest in women or in anything, other than Mozart this favor seems motivated not by sexual desire but by the need to humiliate Mozart.

Constanze, desperate to help her Wolfie, does indeed visit Salieri at his apartments, and bares her breasts before having second thoughts. In a film of grand gestures, some of the finest moments are very subtle.

Notice the way Jeffrey Jones, as the emperor, balances his duty to appear serious and his delight in Mozart's impudence. Watch Jones' face as he decides he may have been wrong to ban ballet from opera. And watch Abraham's face as he internalizes envy, resentment and rage. What a smile he puts on the face of his misery!

Then watch his face again at Mozart's deathbed, as he takes the final dictation. He knows how good it is. And he knows at that moment there is only one thing he loves more than himself, and that is Mozart's music.

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until his death in In , he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Reviews Great Movies Amadeus. Roger Ebert April 14, A guilty Constanze returns home and locks the unfinished Requiem away, only to find that Mozart has died from overwork. Mozart is taken out of the city and unceremoniously buried in a mass grave. Having finished his tale, Salieri asks how a merciful God could destroy his own beloved just to keep a mediocrity like Salieri from sharing in his glory.

As he is pushed down the hall in a wheelchair, Salieri declares himself "the patron saint of mediocrities" and mockingly absolves the other patients of their own inadequacies. Mozart's high-pitched laugh is heard as the screen fades to black. In his autobiography Beginning, Kenneth Branagh says that he was one of the finalists for the role of Mozart, but was dropped from consideration when Forman decided to make the film with an American cast.

Mark Hamill, who replaced Tim Curry as Mozart towards the end of the run of the stage play on Broadway, recalled in an interview that he read with many actresses auditioning for Mozart's wife Constanze and after the reads, Forman decided to not cast him because of his association with the character of Luke Skywalker, believing that the audience would not believe him as the composer. Tom Hulce reportedly used John McEnroe's mood swings as a source of inspiration for his portrayal of Mozart's unpredictable genius.

Meg Tilly was cast as Mozart's wife Constanze, but she tore a ligament in her leg the day before shooting started. She was replaced by Elizabeth Berridge.

Several other scenes were shot at the Barrandov Studios. Giving the film four-out-of-four stars, Roger Ebert acknowledged that it was one of the "riskiest gambles a filmmaker has taken in a long time," but added " here is the genius of the movie there is nothing cheap or unworthy about the approach," and ultimately concluded that it was a "magnificent film, full and tender and funny and charming.

In one negative review, Todd McCarthy of Variety said that despite "great material and themes to work with, and such top talent involved," the "stature and power the work possessed onstage have been noticeably diminished" in the film adaptation. The film's many historical inaccuracies have attracted criticism from music historians. In , the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including the double nomination for Best Actor with Hulce and Abraham each being nominated for their portrayals of Mozart and Salieri, respectively.

Amadeus peaked at 6 during its 8th weekend in theaters. Forman also received the Directors Guild of America Award for his work. As Olivier thanked the Academy for inviting him, he was already opening the envelope.

Instead of announcing the nominees, he simply read, "The winner for this is Amadeus. Olivier in his 78th year had been ill for many years, and it was because of mild dementia that he forgot to read the nominees. Zaentz then thanked Olivier, saying it was an honour to receive the award from him, before mentioning the other nominees in his acceptance speech: The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart and A Soldier's Story. In his acceptance speech for the award, Jarre remarked "I was lucky Mozart was not eligible this year".

Amadeus premiered in as a PG-rated movie with a running time of minutes. This version was released by the studios as a Director's Cut. Forman justified why those scenes were cut in the first place in the supplemental material for Pioneer's deluxe LaserDisc. However, he explains why the scenes were eventually restored in a subsequent interview with The A.

When you finish a film, before the first paying audience sees it, you don't have any idea. You don't know if you made a success or a flop, when it comes to the box office. And in the '80s, with MTV on the scene, we are having a three-hour film about classical music, with long names and wigs and costumes. Don't forget that no major studio wanted to finance the film, for these reasons.