The Music Lovers (1971)

The films of Ken Russell tend to provoke strong reactions from audiences. Never one to sacrifice drama for subtlety, his work on The Music Lovers is among his most passionate, oversized, and florid, although it is relatively restrained in terms of surreal visual imagery and storytelling technique. Russell seems to be trying to create a movie that is as fractured and schizophrenic as Tchaikovsky's life, and he succeeds admirably in doing this. Unfortunately, there's insufficient dramatic payoff for all this effort, especially as the end result tends to discomfort and alienate many viewers. Credit must be given to the director's imagination, however, as well as to his visual sense -- the play of colors, the editing, and the imagery are stunning. Richard Chamberlain is a bit overwhelmed by the goings-on; although he puts up a great fight, he doesn't seem sufficiently keyed in to Russell's vision to make the part his own, leaving the film with a bit of a hole in its center. Glenda Jackson, on the other hand, gives a powerhouse performance that is perfectly in tune with Russell; she is one of the few actresses capable of giving Russell what he is after without losing touch with either reality or with her own core inner being. Jackson, along with the lavish sets and the sometimes fascinating, sometimes bewildering camera movements, doesn't make up for the many flaws in the film, but she and those flourishs do make it much easier to take. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide