Ken Russell combines intellect and imagination like no other film director. Mahler goes from earnest discussions of the meaning of his music to an outrageous slapstick sequence in which the composer converts to Christianity under the whip of dominatrix Cosima Wagner. Robert Powell, especially in profile, is a dead ringer for Gustav Mahler and convincingly captures his angst and ambitiousness. To what extent the story diverges from known biography is beside the point: the artist here is Russell, not Mahler, and his is a canvas full of bright colors always under threat from encroaching darkness.
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