Amadeus
Wow wow wow. Too many notes though.
F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce star as composers Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The film starts us with an older Salieri being found in a wounded condition, proclaiming that "he killed Mozart." After being visited by a priest while recovering in what appears to be a psych ward, Salieri recounts what led to the rivalry (and death) of Mozart.
The two leads are just incredible. F. Murray Abraham does such a great job of being a complex character- he is truly amazed by Mozart, as seen in the scene where his wife Constanze drops off his works, yet despises him for the attention he receives by both women and his employer, Emperor Joseph II of Vienna. He makes Mozart as undesirable as possible to Joseph II by claiming that Mozart's operas violate some of Joseph II's rules (such as featuring ballet), forcing Mozart to rewrite and leading to Joseph II being bored with him. He claims Mozart molests young girls so he doesn't get hired to work with young prodigies. When Mozart's father passes away, Salieri deliberately shows up in the famous black cloak (as portrayed in the movie poster- which is one of my favorites ever) to basically retraumatize Mozart, cosplaying as a masked patron willing to pay Mozart to write a Requiem for Mass (basically a funeral song, which Salieri is planning on having for Mozart- killing Mozart after the piece is finished and claiming the Requiem as his own at Mozart's own funeral). He preys upon Mozart's need for money and an older father figure, as Salieri is one of the only people to both recognize and be there for Mozart, which Mozart appreciates, unaware of Salieri's malevolent intentions. Mozart eventually dies due to exhaustion caused by Salieri, as Salieri (as the masked patron) is having Mozart construct the Requiem piece while Mozart is also facing a rushed deadline for "The Magic Flute", and Salieri knows all of this due to his "spy", a maid played by Cynthia Nixon, which is why Salieri claims responsibility for killing Mozart. With Salieri proclaiming these actions to be his vengeance against God, he just makes for such an epic villain.
Hulce is also really really great. He is also able to bring such character to Mozart (who is especially immortalized in this film with an obnoxious giggle). Mozart is genuinely a genius who has all of his pieces within his mind and yet is not respected by many. His youth holds him back, as he is arrogant, vulgar, a drunk, and lacks any form of being humble (even though he's not necessarily wrong about the quality of his pieces). He does value his family, including his father, wife, and son, but values his music more- that is his entire life.
It's fascinating that almost the entire "rivalry" is one-sided- Mozart genuinely values Salieri and considers him a friend and ally, which makes the relationship ever more brutal. The scenes with the opera are so good, the costuming and visuals are gorgeous, the performances are great- watching the Director's Cut, the pacing definitely treads on at times but it is such a captivating watch.