Michael Saffle, Liszt in the movies: Liszt’s Rhapsody as composer biopic

Unlike other Liszt biopics, which attempt to imitate reality more or less successfully, Liszt’s Rhapsody (1996) transforms an obscure story from the composer’s life into a parable of political correctness. In spite of certain realistic visual details, Liszt’s Rhapsody is a less successful biopic than several of its predecessors, including Charles Vidor’s and George Cukor’s Song Without End (1960), James Lapine’s Impromptu (1991), and Ken Russell’s controversial Lisztomania (1975). An examination of Liszt biopics reveal ways in which composer biopics function in terms of filmic conventions governing historical and documentary truth.

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