.“The Music Lovers” (1971), a biopic about Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (gay actor Richard Chamberlin), focuses on his disastrous marriage (to Nina, played by Glenda Jackson), his suppressed homosexuality, and the emotional turmoil that fueled his music.
Perhaps director Ken Russell’s most flamboyant film, “The Music Lovers,” is a landmark in early 1970s Queer Cinema but for all the wrong reasons. Although notable for its frank (if stylized) depiction of Tchaikovsky’s sexuality, it’s one vulgar over-the top Russell sequence after another. It’s MTV avant la lettre.
THE “1812 OVERTURE” MONTAGE, A DELIRIOUS MIX OF SEXUAL FRUSTRATION AND NATIONALISTIC BOMBAST, IS FOR RUSSELL FREAKS ONLY!
Glenda Jackson’s Nina is portrayed as both victim and villain and Jackson, the actress, is debased on every possible level. You feel for her. The train sequence alone is grounds for an artistic lawsuit.
Chamberlin gives what can only be called a non-performance. All ham and no depth. A noted pianist, however, he does wonders on the piano
The screenplay, if you can call it that, is by Melvyn Bragg. The gorgeous cinematography is by Douglas Slocombe.
STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME, APPLE TV and YouTube
Seventy Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967)
https://thebrownees.net/seventy-queer-films-of-the-new-hollywood-1967-1981
https://thebrownees.net/douglas-slocombe-master-cinematographer/
