Amadeus

Now, this film won 8 academy awards... and I know why. It was an amazing film.

The wardrobe in the film was fantastic. It really looked as though we were in the latter half of the 18th century. All of Mozart’s outfits were very playful, really representing him as a person and how he viewed music. I got the feeling throughout the film that all of the music and all of his work was just one big game... until the end of course. But Mozart wore very playful colors, like purple, pink, gold, orange... most of them with some sort of intricate pattern.  Mozart was sick, he looked SICK. It was obvious he was going to die. They did a wonderful job with his makeup. 

All of Salieri’s outfits were very serious looking (they were all brown, which I consider a very dull color) and that represented him and how others viewed his music compared to Mozart’s. Might I add that the makeup for Salieri when he is old was just... ah! There aren’t enough words to describe it. It was wonderful. 

Constanze (Wolfgang’s wife) was usually wearing blue, white, and gold. In one scene I believe she wore pink. I think the color of her wardrobe really depended on the scene, because she didn’t have a super definite color. I’m actually not 100% sure as to what message the director and costume designer were trying to send with Constanze. I think in the beginning it was innocence... and when they had a lot of money perhaps they were trying to show how much Wolfgang liked to shower her with gifts. Because between Wolfgang and Constanze, during the period when they actually had money, they looked so marvelous. Like royalty almost. But we knew they weren’t royalty because they weren’t wearing red. Whoever was in power was usually, almost always, wearing red.

Now, with Wolfgang’s father, he wore that black outfit with the mask... and later, Salieri wore that outfit to scare Mozart. But back to the wardrobe, I think the mask really showed what kind of person Wolfgang’s father, Leopold, was. He was very passionate and willing to do anything for his son. Until his son moved to Vienna. I think that is why there is a happy face and and a sad, almost disappointed look on the other side. 

I still cannot believe they only had about 4 sets that needed to be built (Salieri’s hospital room, Mozart’s apartment, a staircase, and the vaudeville theater). The design of them was so beautiful. After doing some research though, most of the film was filmed in Czech Republic. Except for Salieri’s flashback in Italy (which was filmed in Italy), a scene filmed in France, and a few scenes filmed in Austria (most in Vienna). What a wonderful time it must have been to film all of these wonderful scenes and see all of the beautiful sights in Europe.  I think the production design added to the story and not take away. With the colors, the furniture, all of it was just wonderful. With Mozart’s apartment, it was obvious when they had money and when they didn’t. The vaudeville theater was magnificent. With the candles, the balconies, the stage, it was all just wonderful. It really helped you believe you were in the late 18th century. Even if some things were off as far as time goes, no one cares because it was so beautiful. Which means that they did an excellent job with production design.

By watching this film, we learned some things about 1984. The Cold War is what was going on around that time. Perhaps... Salieri was trying to create his own Arms Race with Mozart... but the fact that he couldn’t keep up meant he had to kill Mozart. I think this might also say something about how much music and film were important in 1984. I mean, 80’s music. C’mon. Safety Dance, Take on Me, Whip It, Head over Heels, Mad World. While some of those songs came out after this film, it still shows how much music meant to people during the 80’s.

The theme of the film is having the gift of music given to you by god. Salieri was not given that gift. So he instead decides to have punish god by killing Mozart. I think that is the theme.

 The explicit meaning of this film is- a musician want to become a great musician, but is living in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s shadow. So the musician does everything he can to get back at god for making him have this need to make music but no talent to do it. Now the musician wants to kill God’s star... Mozart.