There is a big section of the British press that hated
him, absolutely f*ckin’ hated him…
Quentin Tarrentino
Another whirlwind of sound and furious imagery from Ken
Russell in a film that picks you up swirls you through Oz and drops you
breathlessly back down to ground with a thump. I haven’t seen The Music Lovers
since a late night viewing on HTV as a teen and whilst it hasn’t lost its
power, I think I understand Russell’s approach far better now with another
biography based on the emotional force of its subject’s work and the extent to
which it was drawn from life. Ken’s all about the passion, the swings in a
life’s mood than the dates and precise actuality. Every biopic is a deception
anyway so why not embrace the inability to cover decades in a couple of hours
and let your audience experience Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as he sounded and,
upon this evidence, really felt.
"Music and facts don't mix. Tchaikovsky said: 'My
life is in my music.' And who can deny that the man's music is not utterly
fantastic? So likewise the movie! I sought to honour his genius by offering up
my own small portion of his courage to create."*
I watched this sparkling new BFI Blu-ray with my Gen-Z
daughter and explained that it was not only just a couple of years after
homosexuality was legalised but also featured a star who is still getting some
stick – a crass YouTuber - for the “mystery” of his sexuality, aged 90. For our
Beth, this societal pressure is hard to conceive and she felt that this must
have been such an opportunity for Richard Chamberlain to express himself with a
freedom so long denied.
Tarrentino quotes Russell in response to a question about
whether the critical consensus of his work ever got him down and Ken’s response
was as you’d expect, “of course not… because I believe with all my heart in
what I’m doing…” or words to this effect. Ken thereby gave permission to
Quentin to follow his own path and no doubt was attracted to figures of similar
creative resolution such as Lizst, Mahler and Delius. This film was followed by
The Devils and The Boy Friend, both in 1971 a visceral golden
year for the director.
The summation of critical views on Wikipedia shows that most
recognised Russell’s cinematic abilities but felt he was being too
self-indulgent and shocking in The Music Lovers, with the long campaign
to obscure Tchaikovsky’s sexuality no doubt part of this view. That said, the
film starts with a tour-de-force sequence of rapid cuts, single takes and
hyper-kinetic character introductions at a fairground in St Petersburg as
recreated in the backlot of Bray Studios in Berkshire. It closes with Tchaikovsky’s
death and his estranged wife Nina (Glenda Jackson) being sexually assaulted in
a lunatic asylum straight out of Russell’s own nightmares, scenes he would
revisit for The Devils…
Russell’s son is interviewed by Vic Pratt on one of the
extras and he said how his father would call “action!” before the actors were
fully prepared and try anything to get them out of their habits and their
typical riffs. When you have someone of the discipline and lightening skill as
Glenda Jackson this approach brings out an extraordinary performance and one
that is not an easy watch as her character arc heads into madness. Jackson
acted in Women in Love and a total of six films with Russell, clearly
she relished the challenge and she is, as the director said, his dream actress
– fearless and so forceful.
By contrast, Chamberlain is less technical and flexible yet
creates a superb portrait of a man who in Russell’s words, only really loved
himself and his sister (to what extent we’ll never really know even though Ken
had made up his mind). The actor does indeed have a quiet dignity as his
director noted and that unknowable look that won so many hearts during his Doctor
Kildare days is repurposed here in the depiction of the most conflicted of
composers who wanted marriage but not a wife. Chamberlain was also an adept
piano played and good enough to convince even though he was only hitting silent
keys and playing along to the sounds created by Raphael Orozco as conducted by
Michael Previn (who like Jackson, also worked with the great playwright Ernie
Wise…).
Nina, even his sister Sasha, are attracted not just to the
composer but also the power of his music and his relationship with his
long-term patron Madame Nadezhda von Meck (Izabella Telezynska) exemplifies
this perfectly, she not wishing to meet him in order to maintain the fantasy of
a romance conducted almost entirely via written correspondence. Perhaps his
only “straight” relationship is with Count Anton Chiluvsky (Christopher Gable,
also in Ken's The Boy Friend), who only wants the man and not his music.
The script was written by Melvyn Bragg based on the book Beloved
Friend, The Story of Tchaikowsky and Nadejda von Meck, a collection of
personal correspondence edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck.
The letters contains many frank revelations as does the biography written by Tchaikovsky’s
brother Modeste – played in the film by the excellent Kenneth Colley.
We know a lot about Pyotr Ilyich it seems but to get a feel
of the great man, this film is as good as anything. It’s an experience that has
a nasty turn but so did the lives and, for me, this was still at the point when
Russell was controlled and could afford to be making oblique points through
spectacular imagery and unsettled acting, pushing both performers and his
audience to a reaction beyond their norm.
Another valuable release from the BFI and highly recommended
along with another great set of extras which include a wonderful sequence of
the great prima ballerina Galina Ulanova in "Swan Lake" in 1940,
worth the price of admission on its own: such grace and purpose!
Special features:
- Presented in High Definition
- Newly recorded audio commentary by film historian Matthew Melia
- Interview with Alexander Verney-Elliott (2024, 20 mins): Ken Russell's son looks back upon his father's work, and remembers his own appearance in The Music Lovers
- Charlotte Bronte Enters the Big Brother House (2007, 16 mins): Ken Russell staged, directed and filmed this 'Radical Bronte' ballet for young people, illustrating Jane Eyre
- The Guardian Interview: Melvyn Bragg (1988, 76mins): ten years after the inception of The Southbank Show, Melvyn Bragg discusses his career in television and film writer Ronald Harwood, at the National Film Theatre in London.
- Galina Ulanova in "Swan Lake" (1940, 6 mins): one of the greatest ballerinas of all time is seen performing a dance from Swan Lake, in this rare film held by the BFI National Archive
- Musical Highlights from USSR Today (10 mins): edited highlights from three editions of the Soviet newsreel, gathering items about Tchaikovsky and Russian musical arts
- Costume designs (2024, 2 mins): original sketches by Shirley Russell
- Original trailer
- Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Matthew Melia, a new essay by Caroline Langhorst and contributions from Alexander Verney-Elliott and Lisi Russell
Over the top, did someone say? Vulgar bombast devoid of
fact?*
*Ken Russell, writing in The Guardian about the film in 2004
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment