Amadeus

"The man... The music... The madness... The murder... The motion picture."

1984 2h 40m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

★8.0TMDB · 4,952

DramaHistoryMusic

Synopsis

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Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

“The man... The music... The madness... The murder... The motion picture.”

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Cast

F. Murray Abraham
Antonio Salieri
Tom Hulce
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Elizabeth Berridge
Constanze Mozart
Simon Callow
Emanuel Schikaneder
Roy Dotrice
Leopold Mozart
Christine Ebersole
Katerina Cavalieri
Jeffrey Jones
Emperor Joseph II
Charles Kay
Count Orsini-Rosenberg

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Miloš Forman
Writers: Peter Shaffer
Languages: English, Italian, Latin, German
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 160 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

42 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, Italian, Latin, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

258+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Miloš Forman, shot by Miroslav Ondříček. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Chandler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce and Elizabeth Berridge carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Miloš Forman directs. Miroslav Ondříček behind the camera. Michael Chandler cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Italian, Latin, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 160 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Made its money back 5.0× over at the box office.
342 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, Italian, Latin, German.
5258+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Miloš Forman, shot by Miroslav Ondříček. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Editor Michael Chandler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce and Elizabeth Berridge carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The man... The music... The madness... The murder... The motion picture.".
10IMDB entry: tt0086879 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 19 themes, including "opera", "composer", "musician", "marriage crisis".

The technical file

Cinematography: Miroslav Ondříček
Editing: Michael Chandler
Production design: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Costume design: Theodor Pištěk
Makeup / hair: Paul LeBlanc
Sound: Mark Berger
Runtime: 160 min · 2h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $18,000,000
Box office: $90,007,557
Return: 500% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Amadeus (1984)

Awards

Amanda Award for Best Foreign Feature Film
BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair
Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Academy Award for Best Production Design
César Award for Best Foreign Film
Academy Award for Best Sound
BAFTA Award for Best Editing
BAFTA Award for Best Sound
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Academy Award for Best Costume Design

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Miloš Forman

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-12-20
★ 8/10
Lively costume biography about Mozart’s last nine years in Austria Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) is a competent but mediocre composer in Vienna, Austria, in the late 1700s. He recognizes the God-given genius of the younger Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) and struggles with bitter envy. The story is told in flashback as Salieri shares it with a cleric decades later at an asylum. “Amadeus” (1984) is an entertaining costume drama that successfully takes you back to Vienna from 1783-1791. Mozart was basically the rock star of the era and some of his dynamic music even evokes certain modern rock styles. Giving the main characters personality helps bring the events alive and the flashback structure makes for compelling storytelling. On the feminine front, Elizabeth Berridge plays Amadeus’ cute & feisty wife, Constanze, while Christine Ebersole is on hand as a ravishing opera singer, sorta reminiscent of Tina Root of Switchblade Symphony (albeit taller). The original Broadway play concentrated on character motivation with music in the background while the movie focuses a little too much on it. Unless you’re an opera aficionado, the extensive scenes of Mozart's and Salieri's operas being performed become tiresome after a while and unnecessarily bloat the film, somewhat muting the story. When the Emperor yawns during a performance of “Figaro” I could relate because a lot of opera music sounds the same to me. Nonetheless, this is an informative and amusing biography of Wolfgang’s last nine years; very well done. The movie runs 2 hours, 40 minutes and was shot mostly in the Czech Republic. GRADE: B+/A-
CinemaSerf2023-01-07
★ 8/10
Rarely can I think of a more worthy multi-award winning performance than that from F. Murray Abraham in this masterfully crafted - if entirely speculative - retrospective on the life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (portrayed here by the astonishingly effective Tom Hulce). Abraham portrays the duplicitous, envious and malevolent Antonio Salieri, the court composer to Emperor Joseph II of Austria (Jeffery Jones). He is talented, up to point, and settled in his politically influential and wealthy role, but growing up, he has always been aware of this other young boy who can play, perfectly, composing as he goes. Initially in awe of this man's predigious talent, it isn't long before the green eyed monster starts to rear it's ugly head, and jealousy soon starts to drive his every waking moment. Meantime, the young maestro is attracting more and more attention, acclaim and is soon rivalling Salieri for the attentions of the Emperor himself. At this stage, Salieri must act. How? Well fortunately he is ably assisted by Mozart's own self-destructive character. As a child, compared to a performing monkey, he always had issues with his father (Roy Dotrice) and even when married to Stanzi (Elizabeth Berridge) with his own child, we feel that he is always in search of adulation, appreciation and love whilst treading a very fine line between despair and a chronic fear of poverty and failure - one which leads him to an increasingly addictive existence. What is also striking here, is the extent to which Mozart's music has become pervasive in not just cinema history, but in our broader environment too. I found myself familiar - to varying degrees - with much of the superbly delivered soundtrack. It's all told via a rather apposite "confession" between Salieri and a priest who, as the story develops, struggles with his own faith and his belief that all sins can be forgiven. Perhaps some can't? The attention to detail here is fantastic: the sets, costumes and the location photography contribute hugely to the wonderfully rich look and feel of a film that just oozes style and confidence. Hulce's portrayal of the creative virtuoso as he descends into a maelstrom of misery is thoroughly convincing, and by the end - historical fact being adhered to, at least in this - I felt emotionally drained by the strength of these two tours de forces. A big screen with big sound is a must here, and I think you will find the three hours that this lasts will just fly by.