Rating: PG
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 10/21/1998
Dubbed: English
Sound: 2
Run Time: 111 min
Distributor/Studio: Image Entertainment
Director
Ken Russell made a number of biographical films of composers' lives including
The Music Lovers, (about
Tchaikovsky) and
Lisztomania.
Russell embellished the other films with certain characteristic flourishes, which include a focus on the composers' sexual obsessions, poetically telling anachronisms, and scenes which show
Richard Wagner in a bad light. The story of
Mahler is recounted in a much less complex and flamboyant manner and is a relatively reverent study of the life and work of Austrian composer
Gustav Mahler, here played by
Robert Powell. The film tackles the touchy dilemma of
Mahler's Jewishness in the anti-Semitic atmosphere of 19th-century Vienna. He converts to Christianity, which has no effect on his brilliant musical output but which eats away at his physical and mental well-being.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was a conductor and composer of the late Romantic era and specialized in huge symphonic works. Though his works were performed widely during his lifetime, they were less and less-often played until
Leonard Bernstein's active campaign on their behalf brought him renewed recognition as a composer of the first rank, every bit the peer of
Brahms or
Stravinsky.
~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Cart 0 items
