Amadeus

Another interpretation of the Peter Shaeffer play and hard not to compare with the movie – even though I hadn’t seen it for many years a lot of the scenes are still familiar to me.

There is certainly a bit more depth to the TV show – the extra running time allowing a deeper investigation of Mozart, Salieri and Constanza, all of which is effective.

This Mozart seems more self-destructive and less flippant – he seems deliberately cruel here rather than casually, inadvertently cruel as he did in the film. And Salieri is more tortured than calculating. Constanza at least doesn’t have a dreadful New York accent and does get a lot more screen time and agency.

So this does expand on the movie and the cut to the final scene of the play was very nicely done. As we expect from big budget series on the major streaming platforms the production values are very high – impressive sets and lovely costumes with lots and lots of extras. The only failing in this respect are those scenes later in time in which a brilliantly made-up 90 year old Salieri talks to the same Constanza we saw years earlier, but wearing a grey wig – unconvincing to my eyes.

Well worth a watch and a genuinely interesting expansion of the movie.