Interlude in Prague is a historical drama which premiered in 2017.
The story is set in Prague in 1787.
The topic is Mozart and his music.
Here is some basic information:
** Director: John Stephenson
** Producer: Brian Ashby
** Writers: Brian Ashby, Helen Clare Cromarty & John Stephenson
** Available on DVD and via Amazon Prime Video
** Run time: 99 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Aneurin Barnard as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) – the famous composer
** Samantha Barks as Josepha Duschek (1754-1824) – an opera singer
** James Purefoy as Baron Saloka
** Morfydd Clark as Zuzanna Lubtak – an opera singer
** Adrian Edmondson as Mr Lubtak – Zuzanna’s father
** Dervla Kirwan as Mrs Lubtak – Zuzanna’s mother
The second group
** Anna Rust as Hana – Baron Saloka’s maid
** Ruby Bentall as Barbarina – Josepha Duschek’s maid
** Edmund Kingsley as Henry Novy – a representative of the Catholic Church in Salzburg
** Krystof Hadek as Johann Bohac – conductor at the opera
** Klara Issova as Miss Ribber – wardrobe mistress at the opera
** Ian Bonar as Laporel Bloch – Baron Saloka’s assistant
** Charlotte Peters as Constanze Mozart (1762-1842) – Mozart’s wife
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. This is why I am not going to say too much about what happens in this historical drama, but I have to mention a few details in order to explain and justify my rating.
I will only tell you how the story begins:
Mozart is invited to Prague to attend the performance of one of his operas. While in Prague, he works on a new opera, Don Giovanni.
In this movie, we follow the preparations. We see Mozart while he is composing his music. We see rehearsals in the opera house. Off-stage, several devious intrigues are being prepared, some of them quite evil.
This is how the story begins, and this is where my presentation ends.
If you want to know what happens to Mozart and the people around him, you will have to watch the drama all the way to the end.
RATINGS AND REVIEWS
What do reviewers say about it?
Here are the results of three movie aggregators:
** 40 percent = Empire online
** 63 percent = IMDb
** 70 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
** 80 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
On Amazon there are at the moment more than 200 ratings of this product, more than 80 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.2 stars which corresponds to a rating of 84 percent.
If you ask me, all these ratings are too high.
Why?
Because this movie is flawed; fatally flawed.
Let me explain:
# 1. The story is based on a combination of fact and fiction. More fiction than fact. Most of the story is fictional, including the main plot. Most of the characters are fictional, including the evil Baron Saloka.
If you look at the chart above, you can see that only three characters are real historical persons: Mozart, his wife Constanze and the opera singer Josepha. The remaining characters are fictional.
In the movie, Mozart has an affair with Zuzanna. Did this really happen?
No, this never happened, because Zuzanna is a fictional character.
In the movie, Zuzanna’s father and mother want her to marry Baron Saloka. Did this really happen?
No, this never happened, because all these characters are fictional.
Mozart was in Prague in 1787. The movie-makers have placed him in the middle of a fictional plot. And they have surrounded him with a number of fictional characters.
This is why this movie is not really about Mozart and his music. Mozart is just an excuse for telling us a story which never happened.
# 2. It is difficult to find out who is who in this drama. All male characters look almost the same, because they are dressed the same way. All female characters look almost the same, because they are dressed in the same way.
In most cases, these characters do not address each other by name when they meet, because they already know each other, but the viewer does not know them, so how can the viewer find out who is who?
The multitude of characters who look almost the same is highly confusing.
There is an easy and simple solution to this problem: an on-screen message can be used to identify each character the first time he or she appears. It is a shame this method was not used to help the viewer understand who is who. It is a flaw. A serious flaw.
# 3. The story is set in Prague, which is today the capital of the Czech Republic. Most people in this city speak Czech. Mozart was born in Salzburg. From 1784 to 1787, he lived in Vienna, which is today the capital of Austria. He spoke German with an Austrian accent.
In 1787 Prague was a part of the Habsburg Empire. The upper classes probably spoke German.
Whatever language they spoke, we can be quite sure that they did not speak English. But in this movie, all conversations are in English!
This is highly unrealistic. In fact, it is a gross violation of historical accuracy. Even the poster on the wall of the opera house is written in English! For the benefit of the modern audience!
The movie-makers have used a lot of time and effort to make this historical drama seem realistic.
They want to make us believe we are in the city of Prague, as it was in 1787. Here is what they did:
** They tried to find actors who have the right age and the right appearance
** They tried to dress them in costumes that are historically correct
** They tried to use technology that is proper for the period, such as a carriage pulled by horses (and no mobile phones)
** They tried to find good locations and they succeeded: this story is set in Prague and it is actually filmed in Prague. It is filmed on location
** They included a lot of music composed by Mozart
But what about the language that is spoken in the drama? This aspect is completely ignored, even though it is an important part of the whole package. Why do the actors speak English? For the benefit of the modern audience!
This historical drama is completely unrealistic. The beautiful historical costumes and the beautiful locations are wasted. They do not mean anything, because all characters speak the wrong language.
# 4. While the version available via Amazon Prime Video has subtitles, there are no subtitles on the DVD.
This is a great shame. Subtitles are necessary for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
In addition, subtitles are often useful for people who can hear, whenever there is an actor who speaks very fast or who does not speak clearly.
In this drama, many actors do not speak clearly. It is not always easy to understand what is being said. Subtitles would have helped a lot here. Adding subtitles to a movie is not expensive. It is certainly much cheaper than dubbing, which is a horrible practice.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, this movie is not only flawed; it is fatally flawed. I cannot understand why some reviewers think it deserves a rating of four or five stars.
In my opinion, it does not even deserve two or three stars. I have to go all the way to the bottom with this product. I think it deserves a rating of one star (20 percent).
PS. Wikipedia has a special page devoted to Mozart and Prague, which offers a more historical perspective:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Prague
*****
Interlude in Prague
A historical drama
(2017)
*****
The famous composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)
*****
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