Amadeus

Amadeus

1 INT. STAIRCASE OUTSIDE OLD SALIERI'S SALON - NIGHT - 1823 1

Total darkness. We hear an old man's voice, distinct and in distress. It is OLD

SALIERI. He uses a mixture of English and occasionally Italian.

OLD SALIERI

Mozart! Mozart! Mozart. Forgive me! Forgive your assassin!

Mozart!

A faint light illuminates the screen. Flickeringly, we see an eighteenth century

balustrade and a flight of stone stairs. We are looking down into the wall of the

staircase from the point of view of the landing. Up the stair is coming a branched

candlestick held by Salieri's VALET. By his side is Salieri's COOK, bearing a

large dish of sugared cakes and biscuits. Both men are desperately worried: the

Valet is thin and middle-aged; the Cook, plump and Italian. It is very cold. They

wear shawls over their night-dresses and clogs on their feet. They wheeze as they

climb. The candles throw their shadows up onto the peeling walls of the house,

which is evidently an old one and in bad decay. A cat scuttles swiftly between

their bare legs, as they reach the salon door.

The Valet tries the handle. It is locked. Behind it the voice goes on, rising in

volume.

OLD SALIERI

Show some mercy! I beg you. I beg you! Show mercy to a guilty

man!

The Valet knocks gently on the door. The voice stops.

VALET

Open the door, Signore! Please! Be good now! We've brought

you something special. Something you're going to love.

Silence.

VALET

Signore Salieri! Open the door. Come now. Be good!

The voice of Old Salieri continues again, further off now, and louder. We hear a

noise as if a window is being opened.

OLD SALIERI

Mozart! Mozart! I confess it! Listen! I confess!

The two servants look at each other in alarm. Then the Valet hands the candlestick

to the Cook and takes a sugared cake from the dish, scrambling as quickly as he

can back down the stairs.

2 EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE SALIERI 許 HOUSE - VIENNA - NIGHT 2

The street is filled with people: ten cabs with drivers, five children, fifteen adults,

two doormen, fifteen dancing couples and a sled and three dogs. It is a windy

night. Snow is falling and whirling about. People are passing on foot, holding

their cloaks tightly around them. Some of them are revelers in fancy dress: they

wear masks on their faces or hanging around their necks, as if returning from par-

ties. Now they are glancing up at the facade of the old house. The window above

the street is open and Old Salieri stands there calling to the sky: a sharp-featured,

white-haired Italian over seventy years old, wearing a stained dressing gown.

OLD SALIERI

Mozart! Mozart! I cannot bear it any longer! I confess! I confess

what I did! I'm guilty! I killed you! Sir I confess! I killed you!

The door of the house bursts open. The Valet hobbles out, holding the sugared

cake. The wind catches at his shawl.

OLD SALIERI

Mozart, perdonami! Forgive your assassin! Piet? Piet? Forgive

your assassin! Forgive me! Forgive! Forgive!

VALET

(looking up to the window)

That's all right, Signore! He heard you! He forgave you! He

wants you to go inside now and shut the window!

Old Salieri stares down at him. Some of the passersby have now stopped and are

watching this spectacle.

VALET

Come on, Signore! Look what I have for you! I can't give it to

you from down here, can I?

Old Salieri looks at him in contempt. Then he turns away back into the room,

shutting the window with a bang. Through the glass, the old man stares down at

the group of onlookers in the street. They stare back at him in confusion.

BYSTANDER

Who is that?

VALET

No one, sir. He'll be all right. Poor man. He's a little unhappy,

you know.

He makes a sign indicating 詂razy,' and goes back inside the house. The onlookers

keep staring.

CUT TO:

3 INT. LANDING OUTSIDE OLD SALIERI 許 SALON - NIGHT 3

The Cook is standing holding the candlestick in one hand, the dish of cakes in the

other. The Valet arrives, panting.

VALET

Did he open?

The Cook, scared, shakes his head: no. The Valet again knocks on the door.

VALET

Here I am, Signore. Now open the door.

He eats the sugared cake in his hand, elaborately and noisily.

VALET

Mmmm - this is good! This is the most delicious thing I ever

ate, believe me! Signore, you don't know what you're missing!

Mmmm!

We hear a thump from inside the bedroom.

VALET

Now that's enough, Signore! Open!

We hear a terrible, throaty groaning.

VALET

If you don't open this door, we're going to eat everything.

There'll be nothing left for you. And I'm not going to bring you

anything more.

He looks down. From under the door we see a trickle of blood flowing. In horror,

the two men stare at it. The dish of cakes falls from the Cook 詓 hand and shatters.

He sets the candlestick down on the floor. Both servants run at the door franti-

cally - once, twice, three times - and the frail lock gives. The door flies open.

Immediately, the stormy, frenzied opening of Mozart's Symphony No. 25 (the

襆ittle G Minor) begins. We see what the servants see.

4 INT. OLD SALIERI'S SALON - NIGHT 4

Old Salieri lies on the floor in a pool of blood, an open razor in his hand. He has

cut his throat but is still alive. He gestures at them. They run to him. Barely, we

glimpse the room - an old chair, old tables piled with books, a forte-piano, a

chamber-pot on the floor - as the Valet and the Cook struggle to lift their old

Master, and bind his bleeding throat with a napkin.

5 INT. BALLROOM - NIGHT 5

Twenty-five dancing couples, fifty guests, ten servants, full orchestra.

As the music slows a little, we see a Masquerade Ball in progress. A crowded room

of dancers is executing the slow portion of a dance fashionable in the early 1820's.

6 EXT. STREET OUTSIDE SALIERI'S HOUSE - NIGHT 6

As the fast music returns, we see Old Salieri being carried out of his house on a

stretcher by two attendants, and placed in a horse-drawn wagon under the supervi-

sion of a middle-aged doctor in a tall hat. This is DOCTOR GULDEN. He gets

in beside his patient. The driver whips up the horse, and the wagon dashes off

through the still-falling snow.

7- MONTAGE: 7-

EXT. FOUR STREETS OF VIENNA AND

11 INT. THE WAGON - NIGHT 11

The wagon is galloping through the snowy streets of the city. Inside the con-

veyance we see Old Salieri wrapped in blankets, half-conscious, being held by the

hospital attendants. Doctor Gulden stares at him grimly. The wagon arrives out-

side the General Hospital of Vienna.

CUT TO:

12 INT. A HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - LATE AFTERNOON 12

A wide, white-washed corridor. Doctor Gulden is walking down it with a priest, a

man of about forty, concerned, but somewhat self-important. This is Father

VOGLER, Chaplain at the hospital. In the corridor as they walk, we note several

patients -- some of them visibly disturbed mentally. All patients wear white linen

smocks. Doctor Gulden wears a dark frock-coat; Vogler, a cassock.

DOCTOR GULDEN

He's going to live. It's much harder to cut your throat than most

people imagine.

They stop outside a door.

DOCTOR GULDEN

Here we are. Do you wish me to come in with you?

VOGLER

No, Doctor. Thank you.

Vogler nods and opens the door.

13 INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON 13

A bare room - one of the best available in the General Hospital. It contains a bed,

a table with candles, chairs, a small forte-piano of the early nineteenth century. As

Vogler enters, Old Salieri is sitting in a wheel-chair, looking out the window. His

back is to us. The priest closes the door quietly behind him.

VOGLER

Herr Salieri?

Old Salieri turns around to look at him. We see that his throat is bandaged ex-

pertly. He wears hospital garb, and over it the Civilian Medal and Chain with

which we will later see the EMPEROR invest him.

OLD SALIERI

What do you want?

VOGLER

I am Father Vogler. I am a Chaplain here. I thought you might

like to talk to someone.

OLD SALIERI

About what?

VOGLER

You tried to take your life. You do remember that, don't you?

OLD SALIERI

So?

VOGLER

In the sight of God that is a sin.

OLD SALIERI

What do you want?

VOGLER

Do you understand that you have sinned? Gravely.

OLD SALIERI

Leave me alone.

VOGLER

I cannot leave alone a soul in pain.

OLD SALIERI

Do you know who I am? You never heard of me, did you?

VOGLER

That makes no difference. All men are equal in God's eyes.

OLD SALIERI

Are they?

VOGLER

Offer me your confession. I can offer you God's forgiveness.

OLD SALIERI

I do not seek forgiveness.

VOGLER

My son, there is something dreadful on your soul. Unburden it

to me. I'm here only for you. Please talk to me.

OLD SALIERI

How well are you trained in music?

VOGLER

I know a little. I studied it in my youth.

OLD SALIERI

Where?

VOGLER

Here in Vienna.

OLD SALIERI

Then you must know this.

He propels his wheelchair to the forte-piano, and plays an unrecognizable melody.

VOGLER

I can't say I do. What is it?

OLD SALIERI

I'm surprised you don't know. It was a very popular tune in its

day. I wrote it. How about this?

He plays another tune.

OLD SALIERI

This one brought down the house when we played it first.

He plays it with growing enthusiasm.

CUT TO:

14 INT. THE STAGE OF AN OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780's 14

We see the pretty soprano KATHERINA CAVALIERI, now about twenty-four,

dressed in an elaborate mythological Persian costume, singing on stage. She's near

the end of a very florid aria by Salieri. The audience applauds wildly.

15 INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON - 1823 15

OLD SALIERI

(taking his hands off the keys)

Well?

VOGLER

I regret it is not too familiar.

OLD SALIERI

Can you recall no melody of mine? I was the most famous com-

poser in Europe when you were still a boy. I wrote forty operas

alone. What about this little thing?

Slyly he plays the opening measure of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The priest

nods, smiling suddenly, and hums a little with the music.

VOGLER

Oh, I know that! That's charming! I didn't know you wrote that.

OLD SALIERI

I didn't. That was Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. You

know who that is?

VOGLER

Of course. The man you accuse yourself of killing.

OLD SALIERI

Ah - you've heard that?

VOGLER

All Vienna has heard that.

OLD SALIERI

( eagerly)

And do they believe it?

VOGLER

Is it true?

OLD SALIERI

Do you believe it?

VOGLER

Should I?

A very long pause. Salieri stares above the priest, seemingly lost in his own private

world.

VOGLER

For God's sake, my son, if you have anything to confess, do it

now! Give yourself some peace!

A further pause.

VOGLER

Do you hear me?

OLD SALIERI

He was murdered, Father! Mozart! Cruelly murdered.

Pause.

VOGLER

(almost whispering)

Yes? Did you! do it?

Suddenly Old Salieri turns to him, a look of extreme innocence.

OLD SALIERI

He was my idol! I can't remember a time when I didn't know his

name! When I was only fourteen he was already famous. Even in

Legnago - the tiniest town in Italy - I knew of him.

CUT TO:

16 EXT. A SMALL TOWN SQUARE IN LOMBARDY, ITALY - DAY - 1780's 16

There are twelve children and twenty adults in the square. We see the fourteen-

year-old Salieri blindfolded, playing a game of Blindman's Bluff with other Italian

children, running about in the bright sunshine and laughing.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

I was still playing childish games when he was playing music for

kings and emperors. Even the Pope in Rome!

CUT TO:

17 INT. A SALON IN THE VATICAN - DAY - 1780's 17

We see the six-year-old MOZART, also blindfolded, seated in a gilded chair on a

pile of books, playing the harpsichord for the POPE and a suite of CARDINALS

and other churchmen. Beside the little boy stands LEOPOLD, his father, smirk-

ing with pride.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

I admit I was jealous when I heard the tales they told about him.

Not of the brilliant little prodigy himself, but of his father, who

had taught him everything.

The piece finishes. Leopold lowers the lid of the harpsichord and lifts up his little

son to stand on it. Mozart removes the blindfold to show a pale little face with

staring eyes. Both father and son bow. A Papal Chamberlain presents Leopold

with a gold snuff box whilst the cardinals decorously applaud. Over this scene Old

Salieri speaks.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

My father did not care for music. He wanted me only to be a

merchant, like himself. As anonymous as he was. When I told

how I wished I could be like Mozart, he would say, 襑hy? Do

you want to be a trained monkey? Would you like me to drag

you around Europe doing tricks like a circus freak? How could I

tell him what music meant to me?

CUT TO:

18 EXT. A COUNTRY CHURCH IN NORTH ITALY - DAY - 1780's 18

Serene music of the Italian Baroque - Pergolesi's Stabat Mater - sung by a choir

of boys with organ accompaniment. We see the outside of the 17th-century church

sitting in the wide landscape of Lombardy: sunlit fields, a dusty, white road,

poplar trees.

19 INT. THE CHURCH AT LEGNAGO - DAY - 1780's 19

The music continues and swells. We see the twelve-year-old Salieri seated between

his plump and placid parents in the congregation, listening in rapture. His father is

a heavy-looking, self-approving man, obviously indifferent to the music. A large

and austere Christ on the cross hangs over the altar. Candles burn below his image.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

Even then a spray of sounded notes could make me dizzy, almost

to falling.

The boy falls forward on his knees. So do his parents and the other members of

the congregation. He stares up at Christ who stares back at him.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

Whilst my father prayed earnestly to God to protect commerce, I

would offer up secretly the proudest prayer a boy could think of.

襆ord, make me a great composer! Let me celebrate your glory

through music - and be celebrated myself! Make me famous

through the world, dear God! Make me immortal! After I die let

people speak my name forever with love for what I wrote! In re-

turn I vow I will give you my chastity - my industry, my deepest

humility, every hour of my life. And I will help my fellow man

all I can. Amen and amen!

The music swells to a crescendo. The candles flare. We see the Christ through the

flames looking at the boy benignly.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

And do you know what happened? A miracle!

19A INT. DINING ROOM IN THE SALIERI HOUSE - DAY - 1780's 19A

CU, a large cooked fish on a thick china plate. Camera pulls back to show the

Salieri family at dinner. Father Salieri sits at the head of the table, a napkin tucked

into his chin. Mother Salieri is serving the fish into portions and handing them

round. Two maiden aunts are in attendance, wearing black, and of course the

young boy. Father Salieri receives his plate of fish and starts to eat greedily.

Suddenly there is a gasp - he starts to choke violently on a fish bone. All the

women get up and crowd around him, thumping and pummeling him, but it is in

vain. Father Salieri collapses.

20 INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON - 1823 20

OLD SALIERI

Suddenly he was dead. Just like that! And my life changed for-

ever. My mother said, 褿o. Study music if you really want to.

Off with you! And off I went as quick as I could and never saw

Italy again. Of course, I knew God had arranged it all; that was

obvious. One moment I was a frustrated boy in an obscure little

town. The next I was here, in Vienna, city of musicians, sixteen

years old and studying under Gluck! Gluck, Father. Do you

know who he was? The greatest composer of his time. And he

loved me! That was the wonder. He taught me everything he

knew. And when I was ready, introduced me personally to the

Emperor! Emperor Joseph - the musical king! Within a few

years I was his court composer. Wasn't that incredible? Imperial

Composer to His Majesty! Actually the man had no ear at all,

but what did it matter? He adored my music, that was enough.

Night after night I sat right next to the Emperor of Austria,

playing duets with him, correcting the royal sight-reading. Tell

me, if you had been me, wouldn't you have thought God had ac-

cepted your vow? And believe me, I honoured it. I was a model

of virtue. I kept my hands off women, worked hours every day

teaching students, many of them for free, sitting on endless

committees to help poor musicians - work and work and work,

that was all my life. And it was wonderful! Everybody liked me.

I liked myself. I was the most successful musician in Vienna.

And the happiest. Till he came. Mozart.

CUT TO:

21 INT. THE ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG'S RESIDENCE - 21

VIENNA - DAY - 1780's

A grand room crowded with guests. A small group of Gypsy musicians is playing

in the background. Thirteen members of the Archbishop's orchestra - all wind

players, complete with 18th-century wind instruments: elaborate-looking bassoons,

basset horns, etc. and wearing their employer's livery - are laying out music on

stands at one end of the room. At the other end is a large gilded chair, bearing the

arms of the ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG. A throng of people is standing,

talking, and preparing to sit upon the rows of waiting chairs to hear a concert.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

One day he came to Vienna to play some of his music at the resi-

dence of his employer, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg.

Eagerly I went there to seek him out. That night changed my life.

We see Salieri, age thirty-one, a neat, carefully turned-cut man in decent black

clothes and clean white linen, walking through the crowd of guests. We follow

him.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

As I went through the salon, I played a game with myself. This

man had written his first concerto at the age of four; his first

symphony at seven; a full-scale opera at twelve. Did it show? Is

talent like that written on the face?

We see shots of assorted young men staring back at Salieri as he moves through the

crowd.

OLD SALIERI

(V.O.)

Which one of them could he be?

Some of the men recognize Salieri and bow respectfully. Then suddenly a servant

bearing a large tray of cakes and pastries stalks past. Instantly riveted by the sight

of such delights, Salieri follows him out of the Grand Salon.

22 INT. A PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780's 22

The servant marches along bearing his tray of pastries aloft. Salieri follows him.

The servant turns into:

23 INT. BUFFET ROOM IN THE PALACE - DAY - 1780's 23

Salieri's POV: several tables, dressed to the floor with cloths are loaded with many

plates of confectionery. It is, in fact, Salieri's idea of paradise! The servant puts his

tray down on one of the tables and withdraws from the room.

24 INT. A PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780's 24

Salieri turns away so as not to be noticed by the servant. As soon as the man disap-

pears, Salieri sneaks into the buffet room.

25 INT. BUFFET ROOM IN THE PALACE - DAY - 1780's 25

Salieri enters the room and looks about him cautiously. He is salivating with antic-

ipation as he stares at the feast of sweet things. His attention is attracted in

particular by a huge pile of dark chocolate balls arranged in the shape of a

pineapple. He reaches out a hand to steal one of the balls, but at the same moment

he hears giggling coming toward him. He ducks down behind the pastry table.

A girl - CONSTANZE - rushes into the room. She runs straight across it and

hides herself behind one of the tables.

After a beat of total silence, MOZART runs into the room, stops, and looks

around. He is age twenty-six, wearing a fine wig and a brilliant coat with the in-

signia of the Archbishop of Salzburg upon it. He is puzzled; Constanze has disap-

peared. Baffled, he turns and is about to leave the room, when Constanze sud-

denly squeaks from under the cloth like a tiny mouse. Instantly Mozart drops to

all fours and starts crawling across the floor, meowing and hissing like a naughty

cat. Watched by an astonished Salieri, Mozart disappears under the cloth and ob-

viously pounces upon Constanze. We hear a high-pitched giggle, which is going to

characterize Mozart throughout the film.

CUT TO:

26 INT. PALACE GRAND SALON - DAY - 1780's 26