Product Details

• Actors: Simon Russell Beale, Jason Flemying
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Kultur Video
• DVD Release Date: August 28, 2007
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000RO6K58
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,424 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Double Life of Franz Schubert - A Dramatization of Schubert's Last Years" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Franz Schubert: SIMON RUSSELL BEALE
Franz Von Schober: JASON FLEMYNG
The Orderly: DAVE HILL
The Doctor: KARL JOHNSON
The Nurse: IMOGEN BAIN
Father Schubert: FREDDIE JONES
The Singer: CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN
Vogl: RICHARD VAN ALLAN
Karoline Esterhazy: EMILIA FOX

This is a dramatic exploration of the life and works of Franz Schubert. Featuring excerpts from many of his compositions, the central narrative occurs during Schubert' s hospitalization for syphilis, the contraction of which was both a consequence of his darker inclinations and a spur to some of his greatest work. As the doctors diagnose Schubert's symptoms, identify their cause and administer treatment, the composer conducts his own internal imaginative examination, a sometimes delirious and dreamlike evocation of the moments and music from his past life. The characters he recalls are his maverick friend and Svengali , Franz von Schober, his authoritarian father, his illustrious but conformist patron Michael Vogl and his unfulfilled love Karoline Esterhazy.

Musical extracts by Franz Schubert (1797 1828)
Piano Quintet in A major Die Forelle , D667
E flat major piano trio, D897
An die Musik, D547
Die Forelle, D550
Piano Sonata in B flat, D960
Piano Sonata in A major, D959
Länder No 5, D790
Fantasy in F minor, D940
Hungarian Melody, D818
String Quarter No 15 in G major, D887
Der Leiermann from Winterreise, D911
Symphony No 8 in B minor (unfinished), D759
The Hanover Band
Directed by Roy Goodman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic view of Schubert's life, October 6, 2007

By 

Amy - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Double Life of Franz Schubert - A Dramatization of Schubert's Last Years (DVD)

Liszt declared Schubert to be the most poetic musician who has ever lived and to this day, he can still be considered one of the greatest composers of all time. He paved the way for aspiring composers with his Romantic melodies. His compositional style progressed rapidly throughout his career, and by the time he died, at the age of 31, he had written a wide range of music in various genres including opera, chamber and solo piano music. For the first time, Kultur released a dramatization of the life and works of this legendary composer. The Double Life of Franz Schubert explores the last two years of Schubert's life and features a large amount of music throughout the film. The movie begins with Schubert falling ill and his friend, poet Franz von Schober finding him and taking him to the hospital. As the doctors diagnose Schubert's symptoms as syphilis, finds their cause and administer treatment, the composer conducts his own internal imaginative examination and constantly thinks back to moments and music from his past life. He recalls his strict father who didn't want him to compose, his patron Michael Vogl, his friend Franz von Schober, and love of his life that inspired much of his music and knew he could never be with, Karoline Esterhazy. Some of Schubert's greatest works had spurred from this horrific period in time, and this DVD thoroughly displays an interesting look at the struggles Schubert faced and the accomplishments he achieved throughout his life. The works that came from Schubert's last two years of life reveal a composer increasingly meditating on the darker side of both his human psyche and human relationships. Schubert's struggle with syphilis, a disease he began fighting in 1822, fuels this fascinating short docudrama. Rather than permit the affliction to destroy his remaining years, the gifted musician used his pains as inspirational fuel for some of his most famous works. Despite grim circumstances, Schubert doesn't seem to regret abandoning teaching and his stern father to collaborate on an ill fated opera with the poet Franz Von Schober. Indeed, at the end of the film, it is said that Schubert's greatest work was composed in this period. Like Mozart, I always wonder what more glorious music would have been made had Schubert not died so young. Anyone who watches this DVD will certainly appreciate Schubert and his music so much more after you witness the torture and harsh treatment he was put through by doctors, hospital workers, and supposed friends when he was suffering so much.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The double life of Franz Schubert, May 29, 2008

By 

Annette Wilkin (Belgique) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Double Life of Franz Schubert - A Dramatization of Schubert's Last Years (DVD)

This is really a must for Franz Schubert lovers. It gives a good view on his last years and his difficulties to be recognized as musician by his father. The actor is perfect in his role and gives agreat dimension to this movie.

26 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A schubert Atrocity, April 22, 2009

By 

Martin L. Pinsky (jacksonville) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Double Life of Franz Schubert - A Dramatization of Schubert's Last Years (DVD)

This DVD contains a perversion of this magnificent composer's life by placing a grotesque and demonstrable emphasis on his ailment, his digusting reaction to it and precious little on his creativity.

They apparently believe they are being creative in making this movie by showing Schubert in his suffering drifting into creativity and such when infact all the gore and horror of his disease so graphically depicted detracts from the man and his gift.

Frankly I have never seen anything to equal the gross stupidity and horrid emphasis of this movie with regard to a creative genius.There was so much more that could have positively been done here rather than this excusion into hospital gore and suffering--COMPLETELY dstracting from who and what Scubert was.

That people suffer and have medical problems in life is a common occurence, but not everybody is a Schubert.

This movie is a failure in everyway conceivable and a total waste of an informed viewer's time, a disgrace and a failure in serving the memory of one of the greatest composers ever.

They the producers and directors should hang their head in shame in this artsy fartsy regurgitation and KURTUR should burn all copies of this trash.

I collect composer movie biographies, my favorite films; this one? Trash bin city. A pox on the house of the morons that produced this.

M. Pinsky