I bought this film because I wanted to find out about the life of Richard
Wagner. Okay, I could have read a book or even spent time researching online,
but I'm a film fan, and I get most of my information from films. I've already
been criticised for this, but it's the way I am.
Unfortunately, the film didn't fulfil my expectations. It concentrates on the
affair between Wagner and the married woman Cosima von Bülow, the daughter of
the composer Franz Liszt. The film doesn't help any viewer like me with
limited knowledge of Wagner's life. It was impossible for me to tell when the
events happened. I knew it was over a period of years, because Wagner's son
Siegfried became older as the film progressed. There was only one historical
event that I could latch onto. Wagner shouted with joy when he heard that
Prussia had just declared war on France.
"We can finally drive the Jews out of Paris". At this point I paused
the film to check the date of the Franco-Prussian War. July 1870. So I finally
knew when the film was taking place.
But let's backtrack. The film begins with Cosima and her children coming to
live with Wagner in Switzerland. Shortly afterwards Friedrich Nietzsche also
arrives to live with them. Why? I'd have to read a book to find out. Cosmia's
children, especially her oldest daughter Daniela, dislike Wagner.
For the first half of the film they live in Switzerland. Then they move to
Bayreuth, a town that Wagner considers a paradise, because there are no Jews.
When they arrive, Wagner has a house built. He also has a crypt built opposite
the house, where he intends to be buried. Every afternoon he sits with Cosima
looking at the crypt, discussing which one of them will die first.
Richard Wagner is an unpleasant person. He looks down on the people who listen
to his music. He says that they don't understand his music, and he accuses
them of falling asleep during the performances. He claims to love Cosima, but
he yells at her whenever she interrupts him while he's composing. At other times, however,
he becomes softer. He suggests they should move to Italy so he
can concentrate on her and give up
music altogether.
As for Cosima, she's a very stern woman. In the course of the film she never
once tells Richard she loves him, not even when he declares his love for her.
Cosima's husband, Hans von Bülow, is a pathetic man. He intends to challenge
Wagner to a duel, and he even takes shooting lessons to be sure of his
victory, but he backs out at the last moment. He says that he understands
music, and it would be a sin to prevent Wagner composing more operas.
Friedrich Nietsche, Wagner's closest friend, is a strange person. He says he's
a vegetarian, but he likes to eat meat when nobody is watching. He tells
Cosima he loves her, but she turns him down.
Wagner is a womaniser. Despite living with Cosima, we see him having two other
affairs in the film. Cosima knows about the affairs and tolerates them. She
tells one woman, an opera singer in Wagner's Ring cycle,
"I want you to be with Richard because you make him happy, but as soon as
the festival is over you should leave".
There are strange scenes in the film. Friedrich Liszt, who lives with the
family in Bayreuth, has an affair with his granddaughter Daniela. Did that
really happen? It's disgusting.
It's a difficult film for me to rate. It would have been better if the
historical background had been explained in more detail, but evidently that's
not what the director intended. The film has been made for people who already
know about Richard Wagner's life. That's not me. But at least it's inspired me
to do some online research into his life.
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