4K Film: Amadeus

As he stares down death from the confines of a psychiatric hospital, former Austrian court composer Antonio Salieri tells a priest about his role in the murder of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The initial joy at the thought of meeting and hopefully collaborating with the young musical genius sours when, instead of encountering a humble artist in thrall to the gift God has bestowed on him, Salieri is faced with a lecherous man-child who rides roughshod over his lesser compositional skills.

Forman mines Shaffer’s own adaptation of his play for all its subversive humour. Like his previous Oscar winner One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus finds the filmmaker balancing comedy with darker tones that become more oppressive – and richer in detail – as the film progresses. An intimate epic, Amadeus screens here in a beautifully restored version of the original theatrical cut.