The Music Lovers Movie Review 1971

Russell's version of Tchaikovsky's tormented life and glorious achievements is a shocker, a movie that infuriates professed music lovers but, nonetheless, has introduced many a neophyte to the world of classical music via its sensationalism. Homosexual Tchaikovsky marries an admirer to appease the Russian government and his financial benefactor. Stunned when he discovers his wife is a nymphomaniac, he banishes her to a netherworld of prostitution and eventual insanity which Russell mercilessly explores. Tchaikovsky's own squalid life is hardly better, though he does enjoy success before the bottom falls out.

Distribution

Facets Multimedia, Inc., 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614, Phone: (773)281-9075, Toll-free: 800-331-6197, Fax: (773)929-5437, Email: sales@facets.org, URL: http://www.facets.org

Available on VHS
Running time 122 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Musical Drama, Gays, St. Peterburg (Russia), Marriage, Biopics: Musicians

Screenplay

Melvyn Bragg

Cast

Richard Chamberlain, Glenda Jackson, Max Adrian, Christopher Gable, Kenneth Colley, Izabella Telezynska, Maureen Pryor

Cinematography

Douglas Slocombe

Director

Ken Russell

Music

Andre Previn

Producer

Ken Russell, United Artists