Interlude in Prague

An interesting tale set at the time Mozart conducts The Marriage of Figaro in Prague, in 1786. In the opera, the count is determined to seduce the countess' maid, Susanna who is betrothed to Figaro, who works for the count. This opera was somewhat revolutionary in that it held up the count to scorn and ridicule. Aneurin Barnard was a delightful Mozart, as was Morfydd Clarke as the beautiful soprano to sing Cherubino on the new opera, Don Giovanni. However, Adrian Edmondson was excellent as Herr Lubach, but Dervla Kirwan just grated as his wife. The wonderful irony was seeing the angry and grief-stricken Mozart channeling his anger towards the baron in getting revenge. Lots of beautiful music, and period costumes.

My title does not say that it is an accurate reconstruction, and it probably does not set out to be, as just how much is known of the events of October 1787 might be up for debate. That the overture was a last minute composition is apparently true, as is the fact that the Duscheks were prominent in Prague's operatic world, but I expect that much of the rest was a rich blend of fantasy and artistic licence. However, the location choice of the Estates Theatre, the genuine venue of the opera's premiere, was a terrific touch.

Seeing Cilla Black's hubby pop up as Mozart was a surprise, but he did a far better and more credible job than.the clown-like Tom Hulce in 'Amadeus' some 33 years earlier. And having a real life Don Giovanni imposing his attentions on the women of the city was an interesting twist as a suggestion of Mozart's inspiration for the story, especially with a servant named Laporel, so similar to the opera's Leporello.

But the truth is that Mozart only arrived in the city 11 days prior to the planned premiere, so by that point he must have already composed just about everything, if not the overture. That premiere was postponed by two weeks, but apparently only for organisational reasons.

I have seen Don Giovanni countless times over the last 60 years or so, and that made it intriguing viewing for me. However the shooting was way too dark - yes, I know they only had candles and oil lamps in 1787, but as an audience we need to be able to see the faces and have a clear grasp of what is going on. And the dialogue was at times so mumbled that I would have liked subtitles. So in conclusion, 7/10 is a fair score.

I'm not usually a fan of films which place real historical figures into imaginary situations, but I'll make an exception for this inventive fable about how Mozart's Don Giovanni might have been inspired/influenced by people he meets while on a trip to Prague. The film's central characters are the man himself (Aneurin Barnard), beautiful and gifted young soprano Zuzanna Lubtak (Morfydd Clark), and Baron Saluka (James Purefoy), who from the very first scene does his best to live up to the inevitable adjectives that apply to all barons worthy of the title: cruel & wicked. If I tell you that Zuzanna's parents also feature prominently (played by Dervla Kirwin and Adrian Edmonson, channelling his earlier role as Count Rostov) I've told you almost everything you need to know to work out most of the plot without even seeing the film. Other notable characters are Josefa Duchek (Samantha Barks) and Barbarina (Ruby Bentall), a half feisty, half put-upon servant girl and Mozart admirer, who is unsurprisingly more than a little reminiscent of Poldark's Verity at times.

Great operas manage to be great in spite of melodramatic characters and implausible but predictable plots, and this film manages the same trick comfortably thanks to the energy of the main performers. But we're nowhere near "Amadeus" - Mozart here is a strangely sympathetic character despite some all too obvious moral lapses. But predictable and preposterous or not, I was gripped almost throughout, only becoming impatient at two points where I was confused as to whether what I was seeing was supposed to be real or Mozart's imagination.

Prague is such a perfect setting for a period drama of this type, that it perhaps made it a bit too easy not to ask questions about the makeup and costumes. Once again, the operatic theme possibly helped here. At this point I should perhaps warn potential viewers that this film thoroughly deserves its 15 certificate - this isn't cosy family-friendly period drama.

It would be remiss to end this review without mentioning the music, which is of course wonderful. Samantha Barks does a great job with her songs, but a special mention should go out to singer Christina Johnston, who takes over from Morfydd Clark when the going gets opera, and does so brilliantly. I must say I felt this was handled very well technically, because I wasn't ever disturbed by the transition between voices or particularly conscious that I was watching something dubbed.

Overall mark 9/10 - just those couple of scenes that left me wanting more clarity lost a mark for me - I was totally willing to forgive everything else some may see as shortcomings, because it just felt so right for this film's theme.

I thought this was a creative take on Mozart's Don Giovanni. Granted that I don't know much about the opera, I can appreciate the complexity and artistry of the music and the beauty in the talent and range of the vocalists. It is my understanding that this is a fictional story written based on actual events. I can only assume that this implies that Mozart composed Don Giovanni in Prague but the story surrounding the composition in the film is fictional. Regardless, I enjoyed watching this.

The great things in this film are the music, the vocalists, the costuming, the settings and emotion. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more focus on how devious the barron was. I felt like the fear of his cruelty was seen clearly in most of the characters but his actions causing fear just weren't explained enough to justify so much fear.

I'm not sure that I will watch this again but I'm glad I decided to check it out.

The acting was really fantastic. This movie has it all - music, love, intrigue and mystery. The settings and costumes were beautiful. Bravo and Brava for your work :-)