Mozart Analysis

Amadeus

The scene begins with Saleiri in the asylum confessing to the priest about his memories of Mozart. The only sound in the scene is Saleiris voice and how he is describing Mozart. The shot used is a medium shot, so the audience can see the clothing Salieri is wearing; they are dark, and tattered. This represents his personality and the hatred he felt for Mozart.

The sound basically makes this scene so significant and brilliant in this film. At the start of the opera in the flashback, the music cuts in before any other part of the scene, this is because Saleiri remembers Mozart and the opera because of the music he made. He described Mozart as a ‘voice of God,’ and this made him bitterer as he prayed to God to be the very thing Mozart is. When the shot cuts in, it starts with a POV shot of the audience, tracking slowly towards the stage, drawing us in to the music and the performance, but this particular shot also makes us the audience of the work of Mozart, as well as an audience of the movie. The high key lighting in the shot in the opera house compliments the music in creating a good mood about the scene, as the light represents goodness and holiness and makes it almost look like a church. The two candles next to Mozart further show this in the next shot when the director uses a low angle mid shot to put Mozart above the audience. The two candles make it look like Mozart is at an altar in a church and portrays how Saleiri believed he was a voice directly from God. The shot used was to show how Mozart was above the audience and the whole opera house was looking upon him and his work. The constant refrences and high key lighting shows just how much Saleiri thought Mozart was a passenger of light, claiming he was an angel sent from God. His light clothing reflected his personality and how Saleiri seen him. The depth of field blurs out the audience enough to make sure we know they are there staring at him, but also puts the direct focus of us on Mozart and his actions. Throughout the whole scene we still hear the non-diegetic sound of Saleiri talking over from the present, giving his description of his bitter feeling about Mozart.

When the shot cute back to the chamber of Saleiri, the mise-en-scene is the main reason we know it is a different time period, the makeup used to make Saleiri look older, and the tattered clothes, which are rags of his clothes in the opera house, show he is tattered and old. The low key lighting in the background matched with his dark clothing represent his dark passenger and personality. The way he was bitter about Mozart and hated him, compared to the light clothing of Mozart.