The Music Lovers
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| The Music Lovers | |
|---|---|
 Original Movie Poster |
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| Directed by | Ken Russell |
| Produced by | Exective Producer: Roy Baird Producer: Ken Russell |
| Written by | Novel: Catherine Drinker Bowen Screenplay: Melvyn Bragg |
| Starring | Richard Chamberlain Glenda Jackson Christopher Gable Max Adrian Isabella Telezynska Maureen Pryor Andrew Faulds |
| Music by | Original Music: André Previn Non Original Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Editing by | Michael Bradsell |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) |  December, 1970 January 24, 1971 |
| Running time | 122 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £1,600,000 $2,856,525 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Music Lovers is a 1970 biopic of the 19th century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as conceived by maverick director Ken Russell.
[edit] Cultural impact
The film was one of a series of Russell's films delineating the lives of classical composers from an often idiosyncratic standpoint. Other notable ones include: Elgar (1962, TV), Mahler (1974) and Lisztomania (1975).
Focusing on Tchaikovsky's reputed homosexuality, it tells the story of his musical life refracted through his childhood memories of the violent death of his mother, under treatment for cholera by quack physicians, and through his frustrated marriage to Antonina Milyukova. The film employs scenes of cruelty, violence and sexuality in a way that is simultaneously graphic, camp and arch, in order to represent Tchaikovsky's supposed mental anguish and instability. Critical reception in the 1970s was cool. The film has been much criticised as an inaccurate depiction of the life of the composer, but remains an exhilarating fantasia and contains many fine sequences.
Remarkably, actor Andrew Faulds had been a Labour Member of Parliament in the UK since 1966 and Glenda Jackson went on to become a Labour MP in 1992.
[edit] Plot summary
The young Tchaikovsky (Chamberlain) sees his mother die horribly, being forcibly immersed in scalding water as a supposed cure for cholera. He is haunted by the scene throughout his musical career. Despite his difficulty in establishing his musical reputation, Madame Nadezhda von Meck (Telezynka) becomes his patron. He weds Antonina Milyukova (Jackson) but is unable to consummate the marriage because of his homosexuality. The dynamics of his life lead to deteriorating mental health and the loss of von Meck's patronage. He dies of cholera after deliberately drinking contaminated water.
