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Director
Ken Russell's Mahler examines the tormented life of composer
Gustav Mahler. This blend of history and psychological analysis
produces a fascinating study of art and sensuality. The film
takes place on a single train ride, in which the sickly, aged
composer and his wife, Alma, confront the reasons behind their
faltered marriage and dying love. Flashbacks and sequences
chronicle his turbulent and dysfunctional family life as a
child, his discovery of solace in the natural world, his brother's
suicide, his conversion from Judaism to Catholicism, his rocky
marriage and the death of one of his young daughters...
Mahler,
from 1974, could have been a fascinating insight into the
life of composer Gustav Mahler. All the foundation work has
been done and then director Ken Russell wades in and demolishes
everything.
The
composers tragic life is told in flashback form during a train
journey towards the end of his life. So far so good, but of
course this isn't a Ken Russell movie unless there are numerous
pointless "arty" scenes that are so unsubtle that
they slap you in the face screaming: "Look! Do you see
what I'm saying? Am I not clever?"
A
few examples of these very poorly (and in some instances downright
offensive) designed scenes include Mahler's wife breaking
out of a cocoon and crawling over to a rock in the shape of
a face and kissing it; Mahler inside a coffin, still alive,
as his wife dances on top of it in lots of lingerie (oh, please!);
and Mahler's conversion from Judaism to Catholicism - a female
Nazi tempting Mahler to eat a pigs head (actually this was
unintentionally very funny - in an embarrassing sort of way).
Mahler's
flashbacks to his childhood are well handled - with an impressive
performance from the young actor portraying the composer.
In fact the majority of the flashbacks were handled really
well. It was just the tagged on obscure scenes that seemed
out of place. It was almost as though Russell wasn't sure
what sort of movie he wanted to make - or what message he
wished to convey to the audience. Should it be arty? Or a
straight retelling of Mahler's life?
Because
of this the whole production comes across as a sloppy mess.
But the worst thing about this release is that the quality
is not that much better than a VHS copy. You'd think that
someone would have bothered to clean up the original film
print a little. Instead, this release looks as though someone
has transferred a poor print onto VHS and then copied it to
DVD.
The
only extra that is included is a three minute trailer. In
fact save yourself the trouble of wasting two hours of your
life by watching the trailer - which pretty much sums up the
movie.
Nick
Smithson
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