VeteranLight
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
Haven Kaycee
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
moonspinner55
19th century castration fantasy--delineating the extravagance of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt's sex-saturated young life until his eventual death by the symbolic stabbing of a voodoo needle (a myriad of maladies in actual life)--done-up in the spirit of a naughty British schoolboy bored by his classical lessons and entertaining himself by looking up his music teacher's skirts. Writer-director Ken Russell's cartoon-strip nightmare begins promisingly, with a hilarious slapstick joust between Liszt and his lover's husband, the Count d'Agoult (it's a naked swashbuckler, like something from an inventive blue movie). But soon it becomes apparent that Russell's vision is going to be all a pastiche, from silent movies to "Frankenstein" to German Expressionism to bows of unassuming self-reverence. The surreality of Russell's concept doesn't even make sense in the mad forum he has created--there's a narrative thread, yet nothing hangs together--while the creative production design upstages most of the actors. *1/2 from ****
Yessongs73
To rate Lisztomania as a movie, i kept in mind that a film like this is ultimately for entertainment purposes, and if nothing else it was certainly entertaining. But it was more than just this: the film was a colourful, artistically created work that reminded me of the sort of vision someone might conceive on an acid trip. Going into Lisztomania, you have to first remember one thing: this is a Ken Russell film and therefore its not going to be your conventional or standard movie. For instance, Roger Daltrey as Liszt and Ringo Starr as the pope? enough said. While this movie isn't some acting masterpiece or academy award winner it is definitely fun to see especially if you are interested in Ken Russell's films. Overall, this movie reminds me of some distant dream that you would never expect to see be made into a motion picture but will be glad that it was.
Jonathon Dabell
If you're tuning into Lisztomania hoping to find a biographical account of this remarkable composer, you're bound to be left bewildered and probably somewhat disappointed. For this is Ken Russell at his most self-indulgent, and anyone who knows Ken Russell will know that means a film of extraordinary vulgarity, obscenity, sexual innuendo, phallic imagery, anti-Nazism and more. Instead of telling the story in true-to-the-fact style, Russell has written and directed a film that relies upon allegory, metaphor and fantasy to point its message. For example, in real life Liszt was very popular with the public – in Russell's version Liszt puts on pop-star style concerts, complete with screaming female fans. The real Liszt was a confident womaniser – to symbolise this, Russell has him riding a twelve foot rubber penis over a bevy of scantily clad, open-legged women toward a giant guillotine that is used to sever his over active member! Liszt also had a strained relationship with fellow composer Richard Wagner (who married Liszt's eldest daughter) – in Russell's twisted vision Wagner is portrayed as a vampire possessed by the Devil, who dies only to be brought back to life as a Hitler-Frankenstein hybrid who shoots Jews with a machine gun disguised as a guitar (!) Franz Liszt (Roger Daltrey) gives a bravura performance at a concert for his army of adoring female fans. Part of the concert features music written by a young upcoming musician named Richard Wagner (Paul Nicholas). After the concert, Liszt is confronted by his mistress Marie (Fiona Lewis), who is irritated by her lover's continual unfaithfulness with other women. Before leaving his mistress for yet another concert – this time in Russia – Liszt is asked by his daughter Cosima (Veronica Quilligan) to write a romantic piece for her mother in order to repair their damaged relationship. Liszt foolishly states that he would sell his soul for the opportunity to do so… and later gets his wish, when he meets up once more with Wagner, who by now has become the Devil and who vampirises Liszt. During his absence his mistress and two youngest children are killed in fighting in their native Hungary, so Liszt seeks love with a Russian princess, but their marriage plans are scuppered when the church refuses to grant her a divorce. Liszt is visited by the Pope (Ringo Starr), who tells him that the only way he can find meaning and value in his life is by tracking down his old acquaintance Wagner and casting out the Devil in him.Don't say you weren't warned! A brief skim through this plot synopsis shows that Lisztomania is far from your average historical bio-pic. Daltrey is unable to carry the picture as the eponymous subject, but he is at least not as embarrassing as Starr, the Liverpudlian-accented Pope, nor Nicholas, the scenery-chewing, wide-eyed Wagner (these two performances are stunning in their awfulness). Better work is done by Lewis as Liszt's suffering mistress – she is terrific in a weirdly fascinating scene showing the rise and fall of her relationship with Liszt, done in the style of a Chaplin silent movie. Also, young Quilligan is surprisingly effective – and creepy – as his voodoo practising daughter. Russell shows no restraint whatsoever, and indulges in some of the most vulgar and tasteless sequences of his vulgar and tasteless career, but his visual assault does at least manage to convey some powerful cinematic images. These startling images alone are not enough to make Lisztomania a good film, but it can certainly be viewed on the level of a uniquely outrageous failure.
dbeckham
This film is brilliant! Casting Roger Daltry (a rock star of his day) as Franz Liszt (a rock star of HIS day) was a master stroke (though Russell seemed to always like working with the same people again and again and he had done Tommy with Daltry). Ringo star in a cameo as the Pope was a crack-up and Wagner as a vampire stealing themes from Liszt was a trip as well. There is a wonderful "silent movie" section with Daltry doing a Chaplinesque sequence which covers several years in Switzerland and incredible sequences of him as a performer dazzling teeny-bopper girls in crinolines and bonnets--all screaming and swooning to whatever he plays. The piece-de-resistance is the sequence at the end with Liszt in a rocket ship "powered" by several former loves swooping down to destroy a Naziesque Wagnerian Frankenstein Monster who is laying waste to the world with an electric guitar/tommy-gun. This film is so over-the-top I had to have a copy for my collection!
