Customer Reviews

Lisztomania

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Indispensable, cult-status Ken Russel movie (not only for fans of The Who), that masterfully captures and subversively portrays on screen classical piano player/composer Frantz Liszt's personality: a legendary genious of a man whose life and times match that of a Rock star, 100 years before Rock was invented. If Glen Gould is the flamboyant 20th century classical piano player that rocked an establishment, just watch this movie to compare the original Master on his heyday.

Unfortunatelly however, VHS does not deliver. The movie should've long ago been digitally transfered on DVD. Don't get mislead by Amazon referring to this product as DVD 1992 release, it's default listing manner. If you look closely by the picture it's actually VHS edition only. True, Warner still persist not to release it on DVD, obviously they don't expect a blockbuster out of it. Guess we'll have to wait for Criterion Collection to salvage it. 4* for the movie, 0* for Warner.

I had the rare and unexpected pleasure of seeing this film in a theater in college and, fortunately not while on drugs. Knowledge of (classical) music history, particularily from the late Romantic period (and if you know about Franz Liszt's life, all the better) helps one to appreciate all the little "in-jokes." An appreciation of mid-70's "stadium-rock" culture also helps. Casting Roger Daltrey as Liszt seems about perfect as he adds that modern rock-star's charm to the salacious fellow.

It certainly takes liberties with interpretation of historic events (as Russell's "biographies" tend to do) but there is a lot of outrageous humor. Witness the scene when exiled in the Countessa's castle, Liszt has this fantasy sequence where she comes riding in on top of a 10-foot penis. Bizarre as it may seem, it's not entirely unrealistic; Liszt was a known philanderer and let's face it, he loved the ladies and they adored him. Wagner, who spends the whole film chasing Liszt down, emerges at the end of the film as a proto-Nitzschean-cum-Nazi-Hitler "ubermensch." It's bizarre, and I guess you'd have to understand the Wagner-Nitszche-Hitler connections. (Though meant as humor, some people, understandably, walked out of the film at this point. I was surprised that more didn't earlier but perhaps they sat at the back of the theater.) Wagner comes across as something of a juvenile wuss and, of course later marrys Liszt's daughter.

This is definitely not a film for a lot of people. Non-traditional or "deviant" classical music buffs would best appreciate this film... I have yet to see "Mahler" but I hear it is of the same vein. The cinematography looks a little cheap at times but the production is consistent and there is a lot of great costuming and "methodical" bad acting which really is part of the whole schtick. It's not as tasteless/shocking as a John Waters' film or "Return to the Valley of the Dolls," which is good because it does show and require some sense of intelligence and understanding of historical events/references so I would certainly not categorize it as deconstructionist. It's a lot more (intentionally) weird than "Amadeus" but not a full-out freakshow. Go to a Marilyn Manson concert of Karen Finley performance for one of those.

There are many long reviews here analyzing every detail of this film. I will only say that it does become too phantasmagoric and even in its deliberate excess and offensiveness the measure of good taste is a bit lost. I do think that it's great and entertaining that some scenes are shocking, but when the shots become too fixated on the same thing, it feels like a great joke that is being told too many times - it looses its zest. To me, Mahler was a better one in terms of being better balanced. This picture is still a good entertainment, though.

Only Ken Russell could have created this strange film which mixes fact with comic book fiction. One can only wonder how a major studio ever gave the green light to this production, but I am so glad it did! This is not a good film, but it is fascinating to watch. While it is typical for a Ken Russell film to be over the top, none of his other films go this far over. Rick Wakeman's adaption of Liszt and Wagner music is very interesting and the set designs are beyond strange. I suspect this film contains the most phallic symbols of any musical. Ha! And to fellow Who fans --- This movie captures Roger Daltrey at his 70's best!

As some-one who is given to regularly reviewing the works of Ken Russell (against my better judgement), a completely (often deliberately) misunderstood and unjustly derided film-maker, you eventually reach some kind of review-brick-wall. A point from which it's impossible to progress any further. Enter 'Lisztomania.'

'Lisztomania' is Russell's MOST misunderstood and MOST unjustly derided motion picture. I'll bet much filthy lucre he laughed like a drain while he shot it.
If ever a film, jam packed with fabulously garish and disrespectful visuals, was designed and clinically executed with the sole purpose of goading pompous, humourless, over-reverential critics - 'Lisztomania' is definitely it.

Where else can you see iconic composer Richard Wagner grow a pair of vampire fangs...make an Aryan monster (Thor - played by overblown organ-obsessive Rick Wakeman!)...stage a thoroughly nightmarish 'Rape of the Rhine Maidens' with the perpetrator sporting a Star of David tattoo (on his forehead!!)...teach innocent little kiddies anti-Semitic rock songs about 'Teutonic Godheads'...die...then return from the grave as a Hitler moustached Frankenstein's monster, firing an enormous guitar/machine gun at a spaceship full of his and Franz Liszt's ex-lovers, who are trying to bomb him ?

You can't...
Only (and much, much more) in 'Lisztomania'.
See Ringo Starr as the Pope: "Raped at gunpoint?....well it happens to the best of us my son."
Gasp at the brilliantly unfeasible nudity; reel at the disgraceful marrying of beautiful classical pieces with vulgar rock lyrics; fall on the floor and roll in the mud as Roger Daltrey's hair miraculously changes from 70's curly-perm to straight shoulder-length half-way through the film - making a mockery of any attempt at continuity...
And I'm just scratching the surface.

'Lisztomania' is one of the most entertaining films ever made; it's also one of Russell's most autobiographical as well as the most historically accurate of all his biopics.
None of this matters a jot, I'm just trying to justify the pneumatically opinionated excess and comically distorted abandon with a fact or two. Give the delirium some gravitas and worthiness.

Ken won't thank me. Likewise those tediously boring classical music bods who will never recognise that the art they so revere and champion was of its time populist and often reactionary, won't thank him.
'Lisztomania' is Ken Russell slowly raising a middle finger to the critic, to the elite and to organized religion - among (many) others.

Unfortunately, when mega-conservative David Puttnam and his un-enlightened, un-prepossessing cohorts realized what Russell was doing with the money they were giving him...they didn't give him any more; and without the backing of Lord and Lady Muck at the BFI, he never again achieved the kind of artistic success as his insane 70's period.
He's made good films, but never really re-captured that desperate energy and dash he possessed in such abundance.

Those responsible should hang their heads in shame as the limo drops them at yet another red carpet event celebrating 'the Bank Job.' 'Four Weddings.' 'Notting Hill' or whatever lumpen mush is passing for British movies these days.

They won't, but the fact 'Lisztomania' exists at all will serve to remind them that Britain could once turn out a real film and not just a dispassionate corporate formula.

This was the very first "R" rated movie I snuck into. That was 29 years ago and I still remember how much I loved this flick! "Franz Liszt! Franz Liszt!" Okay, it's not accurate, it's over the top, it's in poor taste...but you know what? It's a Ken Russell movie for corn's sake! As a huge fan of Roger Daltrey AND Paul Nicholas, it was pure candy. The hair,the costumes, the excess, the sets; it's just wild and crazy. I still play my old vinyl soundtrack and imagine the scenes over and over in my mind. Love it or hate it, Lisztomania is an experience you'll never forget.

Even if one admires Ken Russell's visual flamboyance (which I generally do), and accepts the extreme and bizarre liberties he takes with historical events, it becomes difficult to ignore Lisztomania's flaws.

Russell works with an interesting concept here: he grounds the story of Liszt (and Wagner) in psychedelically-charged historical revisionism, tinged with postmodern asides (consider, for example, the scene where Franz Liszt and his bride reenact their 'meet cute,' Chaplinesque style). And some elements are startlingly effective (the Chaplin sequence; Rick Wakeman's lyrics for "Love's Dream," set to the music of Liebestraum, that actually enrich the piece; Liszt's opening seduction, set to a metronome). But in most cases, Wakeman's lyrics drown out Lizst's genius, and Russell never rises above this production's most significant weakness: the mise-en-scene (particularly the flashy backdrop behind Liszt's glitter-covered piano) looks cheaply made and sloppily thrown-together. With a quick glimpse of Roger Daltrey flying through the air on his pipe organ-space ship (which looks about as credible as a scene from the Bugaloos), one realizes that a heftier budget would improve this film substantially.

But most critics still miss the boat when they pan Lisztomania by attacking Russell for his excessiveness. The truly rich, excessive moments in this film are the moments that make it work: in particular, Liszt's visit to the Russian countess -- where he collapses from breathing poisonous gas that comes from plaster rectums on the wall, and eventually rides into court on a twelve-foot high penis (only to have it guillotined) is hilarious and visually kinetic.

This film isn't without its rewards, particularly if you're a die-hard Russell fan, but it remains flawed and uneven.

YES...I vote for the DVD....does one of you know how to set up the "voting" ballot type thing on amazon?.... the people demand the dvd. I only have a destroyed second generation vhs of Liszto......p

I rented this film in my youth, and after I had watched it, left it downstairs next to the VCR. My younger sister popped it in, and I heard a mouthful from my older brother about how she shouldn't have been watching it, and I shouldn't have been watching it. Well, it's too late, I already did watch it, and my mind is now officially warped, hehehehe...My brother would freak out at other early favorites of mine, like Joe's Garage and Trout Mask Replica, but he was OK. As for this film, I love Ken Russell's work. He was on fire in the 1970's, and it's a shame that he hasn't really made a great film since Altered States. This film really has nothing to do with Franz Liszt (or Richard Wagner), but it's still a marvel to look at and to listen to. Great stuff. Now, how about a DVD?

Arguably one of the finer "biographical" films ever made, "LisztOmania" provides viewers with a veritable tour-de-force...and it is a film which to others cannot be compared. The lively music (the basis of the movie)combined with the livelier acting makes this movie not so much a film as an experience. It is true that the mind-set one should have when watching this is open minded passivity...don't worry about what is happening before you, just sit back and enjoy it.