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Amadeus (1984)

tomatometer

96

Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 71
Fresh: 68 | Rotten: 3

A lavish, entertaining, powerful film about the life and influence, both positive and negative, of one of Western culture's great artists.

92

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 1

A lavish, entertaining, powerful film about the life and influence, both positive and negative, of one of Western culture's great artists.

audience

94

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 154,588

My Rating

Movie Info

For this film adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Broadway hit, director Milos Forman returned to the city of Prague that he'd left behind during the Czech political crises of 1968, bringing along his usual cinematographer and fellow Czech expatriate, Miroslav Ondrícek. Amadeus is an expansion of a Viennese "urban legend" concerning the death of 18th century musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From the vantage point of an insane asylum, aging royal composer Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) recalls the

R, 2 hr. 38 min.

Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy

Peter Shaffer

Dec 16, 1997

$86.8k

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

All Critics (71) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (3) | DVD (29)

On a production level and as an evocation of a time and place, Amadeus is loaded with pleasures.

February 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Peter Shaffer's shrewdly orchestrated cultural evening gets a steady, dignified, moderately dull treatment from Milos Forman.

December 17, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comments (15)
Chicago Reader
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It is arguably the best motion picture ever made about the process of creation and the creator.

July 31, 2003 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
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As Mozart, Tom Hulce, though extremely American in looks and voice, gets better and better as the drama progresses.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Reminds us that movies can be lyrical as well as vulgar, ambitious as well as playful, brilliant as well as down and dirty -- just like Amadeus himself.

July 20, 2002 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Remains a beautiful, deftly directed and superbly acted version of a witty and poignant drama.

May 23, 2002 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | Comment
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

... brought a new popular interest in the music of Mozart and turned the classical composer into a pop-culture figure...

March 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Turner Classic Movies Online | Comment
Turner Classic Movies Online

Great movie, but not quite true to history.

December 14, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Milos Forman's Amadeus (Warner Brothers, $35.99) gloriously recreates the life and times of one of classical music's most famous composers.

March 6, 2009 Comment
H Magazine

A witty and highly imaginative historical fiction, well adapted by screenwriter Peter Shaffer from his own hit play. [Blu-ray]

February 22, 2009 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | Comment

...a film one can appreciate for its acting and for its visual splendor, to be sure, but also for the sheer exuberance of its music making. (Blu-ray Edition)

February 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

...if the director, the producer, and the writer approved of the added scenes, I'm not going to complain. One way or the other, Amadeus remains a great film.

February 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Milos Forman's well-crafted adaptation of Peter Shaffer's superior play turns out to be a very entertaining film, although it lacks the inventiveness of the original production.

February 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

When Amadeus deals with the music -- and with the theme of greater and lesser talents in conflict -- it frequently justifies its reputation.

September 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | Comment
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

[A] grandiose masterpiece.

February 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

Such a wonderful mix of sight and sound, of humor and drama, of love and hate, of ugliness and beauty.

January 13, 2007 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
TheMovieReport.com

Two amazing performances cap a stellar work of musical imagination and creative artistry.

December 27, 2006 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | Comment
Oscar Guy

A smart, intelligent, and sumptuous entertainment, and for a change a Hollywood movie that captures the essence of genius and creativity, in this case Mozart's music and Salieri's sponsorship, without resorting to visual or verbal cliches.

June 29, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

The entire cast speaks in horribly intrusive American accents, but Forman makes some perceptive connections between Mozart's life and work.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Amadeus is a masterful combination of acting and storytelling, of sight and sound.

March 1, 2005 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Anyone who has ever struggled with mediocrity, desired to master a craft, or competed with another for a prize or for love (and I imagine that's just about everyone) will sympathize with the sufferings of the forgettable Salieri.

January 15, 2005 Comment
Looking Closer
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Amadeus

Had W.A. Mozart been just a film character who was created from the mind of a filmmaker, AMADEUS would have been a fantastic, deep character analysis. As he is an actual historical figure, this film is practically the opposite: a fictionalized biography that runs far too long for what it is. One who is seeking purely

July 19, 2011
spielberg00
Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

A thematically rich masterpiece loaded with sadness and depression over rising star Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) who met his demise at too young an age, aided by a bitter rival (F. Murray Abraham) who has the balls to act like he is his friend throughout his rise and fall. When a movie features two terrific lead

October 25, 2009
Dan Schultz

Super Reviewer

    1. Antonio Salieri: You choose for your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty infantile boy...and give me for reward only the ability to recognize the incarnation. Because you are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block you. I swear it. I will hinder and harm your creature as far as I am able. I will ruin your incarnation.
    – Submitted by Sarah K (47 days ago)
    1. Count Von Strack: Mozart, you're not the only composer in Vienna.
    2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: No. But I'm the best.
    – Submitted by Sarah K (47 days ago)
    1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Hahahahahahaha.
    – Submitted by Edith M (2 months ago)
    1. Antonio Salieri: All I wanted was to sing to God. He gave me that longing... and then made me mute. Why? Tell me that. If He didn't want me to praise him with music, why implant the desire? Like a lust in my body! And then deny me the talent?
    – Submitted by Hriya M (4 months ago)
    1. Young Salieri: I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theater, conferring on all who sat there, perfect absolution. God was singing through this little man to all the world, unstoppable, making my defeat more bitter with every passing bar.
    – Submitted by Chad E (6 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Amadeus - Director's Cut (DE)
  • Amadeus, The Director's Cut (UK)
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