The Music Lovers

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The Music Lovers ★★½ 1971 (R)

Russell's version of Tchaikovsky's tormented life and glorious achievements is a shocker, a movie that infuriates professed music lovers but, nonetheless, has introduced many a neophyte to the world of classical music via its sensationalism. Homosexual Tchaikovsky marries an ad mirer to appease the Russian government and his financial benefactor. Stunned when he discovers his wife is a nympho maniac, he banishes her to a netherworld of prostitution and eventual insanity which Russell mercilessly explores. Tchaikov sky's own squalid life is hardly better, though he does enjoy success before the bottom falls out. 122m/C VHS . GB Richard Chamberlain, Glenda Jackson, Max Adrian, Christopher Gable, Kenneth Colley, Izabella Telezynska, Maureen Pryor; D: Ken Russell; W: Melvyn Bragg; C: Douglas Slocombe; M: Andre Previn.

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The Music Lovers

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