The Music Lovers

I've always enjoyed watching this movie, so much because the music alone stands out for its exhilarating beauty. ( Possible Spoilers! ) Though not historically accurate, it captures the psychological emotions and passions, especially during the seven minute portion when the composer is playing the piano and imagining what the complete second movement of his Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 "visually" represents to himself, and what Antonina's amorous delusions would of wished it meant! In totality, the performance of this concerto and the visual interactions between Tchaikovsky, Sasha, Antonina, Madame von Meck, and the others in the concert hall are extremely intense concerning one of Russia's most famous composers. The director Ken Russell does an excellent job at directing his actors and actresses to portray the required emotional intensity, though somewhat comical over exaggerated script of the story based on the book, "Beloved Friend" The Story of Tchaikovsky and Nadejda von Meck. But, even so the excellent acting by the leading and supporting actors and actresses move this film into its "pathetique" or tragic climax. The acting by the wonderful actress Glenda Jackson is superb in her interpretation of the unbalanced Antonina Milyukova. Her performance is an effective counterbalance to Richard Chamberlain's extraordinarily complicated portrayal of Peter Tchaikovsky with all of his emotional energies concentrated on his musical compositions and his private personal torments controlling his "fate" of never having what society would deem a "normal" life! So much said that this excellent movie is a tribute to a composer genius, especially on the anniversary ( 6th November 1893 ) of the one-hundred-eleventh year of his unfortunate mysterious death by his own hands. My rating for this movie is a 3 out of 4.

Although this film is difficult to follow at times (and, reportedly, historically inaccurate, too; I wouldn't know), there are still several reasons to see it:

1) Glenda Jackson's outstanding performance (you won't believe that the actress we see at the final stages of the film is the same one who played Tchaikovsky's wife early on, but it is - her transformation is amazing).

2) Some truly impressive sequences; be sure to watch this movie on tape, so you can rewind it and watch them again.

3) Tchaikovsky's music, of course.

4) Lush sets and costumes.

Ken Russell is a very unpredictable director; just when you think the film is about to start boring you, he'll give you a wonderful moment out of nowhere.

"Music Lovers" has long been labored over as another of Ken Russell extravagant excess baggages. Seeing it again has made me realize that the film is rather brilliant--not in cinema style but in conception. From the very start it seems to capture the schizoid world of Tsaichovsky and the social milleau he was forced to grip with. The point of view shots and the subsequent dream sequences in the early portion of the film capture this in brilliant colors and sharp editing. As the musician falls into his double life the scnes build to the scarring climax. Performances are excellent. The film may not be totally accurate, but who cares?

Watching a Ken Russell film is, if anything, an experience, and this was certainly was an emotional rollercoaster. Although it has less of the absurdist/surrealist touches that would come to characterize his later films, it still had a rhapsodic quality that deftly blended the music and visuals. While I can't claim to be overly familiar with Tchaikovsky's life, by now I'm used to Russell's approach in this area: taking the raw, biographical material and concocting something purely fantastical out of it. It's an approach that I quite like, something which moves beyond the mundane and quotidian details that characterize ordinary life and creates something magical and mythological, that lays bare the inner life of its characters. I also liked how the film played with blurring lines, revealing underlying connections between music and sexuality, ecstasy and insanity. This was certainly less insane of a movie than LISZTOMANIA, but just as dramatically thrilling. It is cinematic art.

His films are weird, unique, cool, regal, purposeful, wild, modern, obnoxious, empathetic, uncomfortable, hilarious...there's never a dull moment. The heart this film has for closeted gay people is so far ahead of it time, showing the danger of pretending to be who you think people want you to be. It furthers the argument many storytellers make about composers, that they could be nightmares to those closest to them. Just wish there was more music composing / performing.