Kirpianuscus at first sigh, more a Ken Russell film than a biopic about Mahler. irreverent, to poetic, crazy in few scenes, far by the public image of the great composer. in fact, a great work. not only for the strange biographical accuracy but for the fascinating exploration of a ambiguous existence essence. because each step to the legend is presented with subtle precision. it is not the portrait of a statue but the story of the circle of a man. and the option for the lead role of Robert Powell is a fantastic idea. not for physical resemblance but for the art to define the sides of choices, answers to tragedy, self definition of a young Jew in Austrian society, success and shadows of marriage. a film of his music in same measure, provocative, as each film by Ken Russell, Mahler is a seductive show. and this is the most important motif for see it.

TheLittleSongbird Ken Russell can go either way for me, but Mahler I find absolutely fascinating and one of his better films. There are a couple of touches that are perhaps excessively weird and hard to swallow or completely believe like Cosima Wagner as a dominatrix and Mahler biting into a pig snout. Even with those touches though, Mahler is actually in a way one of Russell's more restrained efforts and all the better for it. The film is beautifully shot, the period lovingly evoked and the locations stunning to look at. The music is phenomenal, and is utilised very well here. The effective being that of Kindertotenlieder in the wonderful sequence where Alma is searching for her children. Russell directs with a restrained but unmistakable style and the film is finely scripted by him even if it is purposefully talky. The story unfolds slowly, but is continually riveting. Robert Powell not only bears some semblance to Mahler but also gives a performance of great depth and subtlety. Georgina Hale gives him excellent support as Alma, and it was interesting to see a portrayal of Hugo Wolf, played ably here by David Collings. Overall, a fascinating film whether you're a classical music fan, a newcomer to the style or not, though it is one of those movies that I don't see everybody being totally enamoured with. 9/10 Bethany Cox

najania Gustav Mahler slips in and out of fantasy and memory on a train ride with his wife Alma on their way to Vienna. (I liked the segments on his childhood best.) Roger Powell as the protagonist bears a certain resemblance but hardly as close as some reviewers would have their readers believe. Despite spirited performances by Georgina Hale (as Alma) and Powell, this reviewer found the conversations between the famous pair on art, life, and love neither particularly deep nor riveting. This had a good side: it made the interludes of Russellian excess less distractions than diversions.Nevertheless, though portrayal of Cosima Wagner as a bumping and grinding proto-Nazi might have been hilarious in the 50s, by the 70s it was banal. I felt sorry for Powell having to appear in the same scene. The sight of the newly Catholicized Mahler dining on hog's head is disgusting enough (for some reason I was even more put off by the way he avidly washed it down with milk chugged from a pitcher, blithely breaking the injunction against mixture of meat and dairy, of course). But for me the worst transgression was less blatant, and came when Russell had what looked like an oom-pah hofbrau band, but a marching one, play a passage from the third movement of the first symphony, apparently oblivious to its lilting klezmer echoes. Now that's what I call offensive.Incredibly to me, some reviewers see this flick as Russell's best, a place I would give to "Gothic", in which the mix of fantasy, excess, and reality (history) jells to perfection. A six mainly because I have a soft spot for the subject matter.

stuhh2001 Ken Russell made several films for the BBC on artists and musicians like Fredrick Delius, the composer, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the painter and poet, and one of the founders of the Pre Raphaelite movement. The Rossetti film features the late Oliver Reed in an engrossing performance. This Mahler film is quite good. I feared watching it because I thought Ken Russell would make a circus of Mahler's tempestuous life, but it's a fairly controlled foray, except for the aforementioned sequence with Wagner's widow, BUT she was well acquainted with Hitler, and she never met a Nazi she didn't like, so the scene with her was founded on fact. Robert Powell, and the lovely Georgina Hale, give beautiful performances. I looked in their credits and see THEY ARE BARELY WORKING TODAY. Maybe their own choice or a preference of stage work. I can't believe they would pass up today's movie money. They have not appeared as far as I can see in any major movie project for years. I don't get it. Russell, if he worked with the editor fitting the music to the film, shows a real feeling for the music. Even today Mahler's music is a specially acquired taste, and if much of it sounds bizzaire today, think what it sounded like to listners in 1906. A special kudo must go to David Collings as the insane composer Hugo Wolf. An acting gem. Also no current acting credits. David where are you? We need guys like you, Robert Powell, and Georgina Hale.