When analyzing a film, the goal is to understand the author’s message. The message can be summed up as the author sharing their vision of the best way to live in a given situation. Each genre develops a particular theme.

Amadeus belongs to the Memoir genre, which includes true stories, biopics, coming-of-age tales, and so on. In general, the structure is based on a narrator telling the story of their life. This structure allows for two things:

1. To move freely through different times in the character’s life in order to create maximum narrative intensity. Real lives are often not structured like films and are therefore less intense.
2. The story often begins in the present, where the character must make an extremely important choice. By recounting their life, they are able to draw lessons that will help them, in the present, to make the right decision.

As a rule, just before the climax, the character must make a moral choice that requires a sacrifice. This process gives the audience a sense of purpose and urgency, which supports the narrative even when it digresses into moments of everyday life.

Thematically, the goal is to allow the character to learn a lesson from their life so that in the future they can live better, and thus show the audience the best way to live. The theme is therefore often, in the Memoir genre: how to live the best version of one’s life. Each episode in the character’s life is a variation and progression around the same theme: the obstacle that prevents the character from reaching their full potential or from being happy.

The theme according to Milos Forman

Milos Forman explores what it means to be an artist. He presents us with two artists, Mozart and Salieri, who have radically opposite approaches to art, and both come to tragic ends. He seems to suggest that within the artist there are two opposing tendencies that must somehow be unified; otherwise, both paths are destructive.

• On one side, Mozart represents pure passion, expressed in every moment of his life, but which consumes him.
• On the other, Salieri seeks only to position himself in the eyes of others, neglecting the true nature of his art, which leaves him too detached from it.

The challenge is to know how to navigate between the two.

To understand the theme, I always rely on the narrative structure that guides the character’s journey.

The journey of Mozart and Salieri

A quick reminder on historical accuracy

Amadeus is not a historically accurate film. Some aspects are true, but it should absolutely not be watched for that reason. Even though it draws inspiration from the lives of its two protagonists, it uses this foundation to tell another story and convey its message.

Salieri did indeed claim in his later years that he had killed Mozart, but he was insane at the time and was probably recounting false theories that rumors helped spread. In reality, Salieri and Mozart respected each other, and Salieri, as a recognized composer, was likely not jealous of Mozart.

Salieri

• Desire: To be loved by God
• Need: To let himself be and accept who he is

00:00 - 10:00: Suicide attempt

• We understand that Salieri is haunted by Mozart, always listened to, while he himself is forgotten.
• Dialogue with the priest: Salieri wants to be recognized. He asks if the priest knows who he is; the priest replies that all men are equal before God. Salieri bristles, convinced that God chose Mozart and not him. (Amadeus means «loved by God».)

10:00 – 14:19: Childhood of Mozart and Salieri

• Comparison between the two: Mozart blindfolds himself to play piano. Salieri imitates childishly, revealing the gap between them.
• Salieri reveals his desire for divine glory through music.
• Father figures are important.
• Salieri interprets his father’s death as an act of God to set him free, presuming to understand divine will.

14:21 – 22:25: Presentation of adult Mozart

• Salieri is drawn to sweets (a substitute for his repressed sexual urges).
• He discovers Mozart: childish, vulgar, playful.
• Facing the cardinal, Mozart refuses to compromise and accepts being dismissed. This is not arrogance but self-respect.

22:56: Inciting incident

• Salieri realizes that Mozart’s talent is divine grace. His jealousy is born.

23:52 – 26:06: The commissions

• Decision-makers have no personal opinion and follow their own interests.
• Salieri could have sidelined Mozart but remains fascinated, seeking to confirm that God truly chose him.

26:14 – 27:19

• Salieri composes with difficulty and thanks God for every note.
• Mozart, playful, tries on wigs. He wants everything he finds beautiful, like a child eager to manifest it all.

27:59

• Salieri is torn between his desire to please the emperor and his desire to make art.
• Mozart impresses with his talent, intensifying Salieri’s envy.

31:15 – 36:38

• Play with bows: Mozart’s difficulty in adapting to social codes.
• In the debate on language, Mozart only cares about substance: form is just a tool.

37:00 – 47:00

• The scene is from Salieri’s point of view; one might think he imagines the affair between Mozart and the singer.
• Mozart cannot bear criticism: he believes in the perfection of his work.
• The emperor repeats criticisms he heard elsewhere, unable to justify his judgment.

49:00 – 58:00

• Salieri manipulates the system to harm Mozart, who refuses rules he despises.
• His wife tries to compensate for his lack of pragmatism.

1:03 – 1:09: The double face of the father

• Every man has two sides: serious and playful.
• The father represents the serious side that Mozart failed to integrate.
• Mozart works hard, but only on what he is passionate about.
• Reference to the transmission of genius with young Beethoven.

1:09 – 1:12: Domestic quarrel

• Mozart escapes through art, drawing inspiration from conflict to create.
• Music is his lens on life.
• The Marriage of Figaro as background: theme of forgiveness.

1:12 – 2:15

• No commentary.

2:15 – 2:31: Salieri’s failed revelation

• He partakes in divine creation, but envy prevents him from fully enjoying it.

Salieri misses his personal revelation. Thanks to Mozart, he takes part in a work touched by God, but it is not enough for him. His envy takes over once again. Salieri can be interpreted as someone who wants to be God’s equal, allowing himself to interpret divine will instead of accepting it. In the end, he prefers the asylum to harsh reality, because there he feels all-powerful, blessing the other madmen like a God of mediocrities.