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      The Music Lovers

      R Released Jan 24, 1971 2 hr. 3 min. Drama LGBTQ+ List
      59% 17 Reviews Tomatometer 74% 500+ Ratings Audience Score Composer Tchaikovsky (Richard Chamberlain), sees his wife (Glenda Jackson) go mad and dies of cholera. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (42) audience reviews
      Audience Member I need more Ken Russell in my life. His films are weird, unique, cool, regal, purposeful, wild, modern, obnoxious, empathetic, uncomfortable, hilarious…there's never a dull moment. The heart this film has for closeted gay people is so far ahead of it time, showing the danger of pretending to be who you think people want you to be. It furthers the argument many storytellers make about composers, that they could be nightmares to those closest to them. Just wish there was more music composing / performing. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Ostensibly like Tchaikovsky's own (and especially later) music, the film vacillates wildly in tone, shifting from scenes of intense and serious passion to moments ebullient and blithe-unlike Tchaikovsky, however, Russell's film fails to strike a balance among the extremes and ends up being rather pathetic in the end. The topsy-turvy tonality fails to achieve the melodramatic import of lived experience that Tchaikovsky's work aspires to, instead coming across as ironic, inauthentic kitsch-the furthest thing from the romanticism at the heart of the music itself. Tellingly enough, the best sequences-the drunken sex scene in the train, in particular, which is absolutely fabulous-are those that embrace Russell's characteristic ironic bathos, exposing the vulgar absurdity at the hidden core of 19th Century sensibilities, rather than the more generic temptation here to see in Tchaikovsky an analogue for queer experience today. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Directed and acted in what feels like a pitch of fever, this is an overwrought but effective film. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member If you are unfamiliar with Ken Russell, you maybe a bit shocked by the over-the-top approach taken in the tragic telling of Tchaikovsky and Antonia Milyukova -- but this is actually a restrained Ken Russell. And, Glenda Jackson is brilliant. Beautifully filmed and truly passionate filmmaking. A bit unbridled, but worth it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Epic and lyrical, yet over-embellished and vulgar. Tho well acted, w big emotions and given an immensely operatic treatment of Composer Tchaikovsky's life, this film enjoys and suffers the indulgences of director Ken Russell's handling. I loved the lyricism and the flourishes of what are brilliant, classical music videos of the composers sweeping music. The harrowing, disturbing displays of his life and relationships seem rather overblown here compared to the traditionally known, otherwise quiet gentleman who suffered his demons more likely internally. Personally, I'd love to see my rather uneventful, ordinary life given the Ken Russell treatment just to see the emotionally blazing, caricature results... Hahahahaha As a movie: 3.5 of 5 As a biography: 1.5 of 5 My score overall: 2.5 of 5 Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Often criticized for being an exaggerated and somewhat inaccurate bio of Tchaikovsky, the criticism seems to largely miss the point. Russell is striving for an emotional truth and he absolutely nails it. Russell had a deep understanding of music, and his musician biopics seem to be driven more by the music and the emotions they reveal about the composers than a dry regurgitation of facts. The scenes set to music in this film are extraordinary ... some of the best I have ever seen. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Music Lovers

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (17) Critics Reviews
      Stefan Kanfer TIME Magazine No matter how miserable his actual life, the classical composer tends to suffer in a new way on film. Jan 14, 2019 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times Although Tchaikovsky died of cholera, for which a hot bath was prescribed, the implication of "The Music Lovers" is that he was simply boiled to death, which is what the movie does to his genius. Jan 14, 2019 Full Review Trevor Johnston Time Out Vulgar, excessive, melodramatic and self-indulgent: Tchaikovsky's music is indeed all of these things, yet gloriously so, and the same goes for Ken Russell at his freewheeling best. Jan 14, 2019 Full Review Richard R. Harmetz Los Angeles Free Press Ken Russell's film is so rich that its Romanticism goes against many of today's terse, almost documentary movies. Jan 13, 2020 Full Review TV Guide Staff TV Guide Don't bother seeing this; just buy a few albums of music by Tchaikovsky and let it go at that. Jan 14, 2019 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Chamberlain gives a surprisingly good performance. Rated: B Apr 24, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Composer Tchaikovsky (Richard Chamberlain), sees his wife (Glenda Jackson) go mad and dies of cholera.
      Director
      Ken Russell
      Executive Producer
      Roy Baird
      Screenwriter
      Melvyn Bragg, Catherine Drinker Bowen, Barbara von Meck
      Distributor
      United Artists
      Production Co
      Russ-Arts
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Drama, LGBTQ+
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jan 24, 1971, Original
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Mar 13, 2017
      Sound Mix
      Mono