Mozart drama no Amadeus
Interlude in Prague (M, 103 mins) Directed by John Stephenson ★★★
Everyone in Prague is proud of the Nostitz National Theatre and its opera company.
Thanks to two shining stars, Frau Josefa (Les Miserables’ Samantha Barks) and Greta (Veronika Lapkova), its latest production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro has been a roaring success.
So when it is suggested that Josefa try to persuade her composer friend to come to the city to direct the opera’s final performance, there’s no shortage of financial backers.
But when Greta decides to go back to Germany, the company suddenly finds itself in need of a new Cherubino. Step forward Zuzanna Lubtak (Morfydd Clark), who not only has the support of Josefa but also key opera patron Baron Saloka (James Purefoy).
However, he isn’t just interested in her voice, something Zuzanna becomes acutely aware of when she’s warned by others not to allow herself to be left alone with him. Besides, she already has another potential suitor in the newly arrived Mozart (Aneurin Barnard). Saloka though isn’t going to let some ‘‘bothersome little peacock’’ upset his plans for her without a fight.
Filled with opulent sets, costumes and decolletage, director John Stephenson’s (The Christmas Candle, who is also one of three writers on the project) historical drama just never truly convinces.
While the art direction and cinematography are certainly colourful, the characters are a little too black-and-white. Purefoy’s (Rome) Saloka displays a little too much cartoon villainy, while Clark’s (The Man Who Invented Christmas) part feels rather underwritten.
Barnard (Dunkirk) meanwhile is a likeable enough Mozart, one a little more world-weary than that portrayed by Tom Hulce in Amadeus.
And it’s that Oscar-winning 1984 drama that Interlude seems desperate to emulate – especially in its central ‘‘rivalry’’ – here between a ‘‘respected patron’’ and an ‘‘impecunious conductor’’.
But this all just feels a little flat by comparison.
See it
Interlude in Prague is scheduled to open in select cinemas on Thursday.