The Music Lovers (1970)
region 2 dvd

Synopsis: Overwrought to the point of muddled confusion, Ken Russell's “biography” of Tchaikovsky is a crescendo of images which portray the Russian composer as a homosexual whose wife (Glenda Jackson) is so appalled by his lack of loving that she goes mad.

Russell keeps up a shrill note of hysteria throughout, though Richard Chamblerlain does at least attempt to understand the workings of a tortured soul. Outrageous in its time, it is now almost charmingly quaint, while its account of the 1812 Overture is so over the top as to be risible. Here's a film that requires not so much a 21-gun salute as a firing squad.

Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Glenda Jackson
Runtime: 123 min