Music Lovers
by Ken Russell
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Christopher Gable, Glenda Jackson, Kenneth Colley, Max Adrian, Richard ChamberlainDirector: Ken Russell
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 123 minutes
Release Date: 1993-01-27
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
VHS Movie Reviews of Music Lovers
Movie Review: Acceptable for the great music, not the misinformed history
Summary: 3 Stars
If you watch 1970's "Music Lovers", Ken Russell's badly misinformed portrait of the life of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, you may think people were as open about homosexuality in the 1870s and they were starting to become in the 1970s. Europeans have always been more open and accepting of lifestyle than Americans, but this film treatment still borders on the ridiculous.
The subject of Russell's dissertation, Tchaikovsky, was one of the half-dozen greatest classical music composers in history. He remains the greatest architect of ballet among all composers with "Swan Lake" -- some scenes of which are delightfully reenacted in this film -- holding steadfast to its reputation as the greatest of all ballet. Tchaikovsky also wrote six symphonies, three piano concertos, three operas that remain in the standard repertory, a violin concerto and the late romantic era's most endearing and beloved orchestral music on subjects ranging from Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, Francesa da Rimini) to travelogue (Capriccio Italian) to history (1812 Overture, March Slav).
Tchaikovsky, who died age 53 after composing his dynamic and depressing Symphony No. 6, was homosexual and was tormented by his homosexuality, which is the aspect of his life this film exploits. A remarkable early scene, where actor Ricahrd Chamberlain, playing Tchaikovsky, premieres his magnificent Piano Concerto No. 1 to the conservatory, is followed almost immediately by a scene of the composer in bed with a boyfriend. This is the exploitative nature of the film, which merges sensationalism with incorrect history to give viewers an incorrect thumbprint of the composer.
Just as "Amadeus" did not always accurately reflect Mozart and the abominable "Immortal Beloved" was essentially 100 percent wrong in its portrayal of Ludwig van Beethoven, so too does "Music Lovers" poorly portray the life and times of Tchaikovsy. However, the two musical scenes provide insight for novices into the range of expression the composer offered and the piano concerto's first movement is played in its entirety.
Fortunately, two subsequent films about Beethoven -- "Eroica: The Day That Changed Music" and "Copying Beethoven" -- are both somewhat frivolous but cast the composer in better film treatment than the earlier travesty. In addition, the PBS film "Impromptu" was very accurate in its depiction of composer Fredric Chopin and Franz Liszt, writer George Sand and French revolutionary artist Eugene Delacroix.
For this reason, there is hope that one day Tchaikovsky will be represented on the silver screen more appropriatley. Until that day arrives, this is it. Enjoy the music but beware the hype and sexual manipulation.
Summary of Music Lovers
Furious, violently bombastic, terribly unsettling, Ken Russell's 1970 biography of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (Richard Chamberlain) is a portrait of artistic brilliance beset by the Russian composer's mounting guilt over, well, everything: his homosexuality, his marriage to the increasingly miserable and mad Nina (Glenda Jackson), his hidden attraction to Count Anton Chiluvsky (Christopher Gable), and his suggestively incestuous relations with a sister while growing up. Consumed by his art to the point of explosiveness, Tchaikovsky has increasing difficulty coping with his life, finding some solace in the distant love proffered by his rich patroness (who refuses to meet him but communicates her feelings through letters). Russell intends the film to be a bumpy and harsh ride that descends into grotesque tragedy as Nina is confined to a monstrous asylum and Tchaikovsky becomes ill. Still, there are a few of the usual pop-surreal sequences of which the director is so fond, most memorably a loony visual accompaniment for the 1812 Overture. --Tom KeoghDrama VHS Video
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