Amadeus

Amadeus (1984)

18 mistakes

(2 votes)

Factual error: During the scene where Mozart is being carried away in his coffin by horse and cart there is a brief shot where he is being taken down a muddy path and a farmer is seen with his cows. If you look closely to the left side of the screen you can see a large overhead power line. If you look even more closely you can even see the wires coming out of the pylon. The movie is set in the 18th century and obviously it should not be there. (02:50:50)

ItsGav

Visible crew/equipment: When Mozart and family visit a parody on several operas of his in a public theater, in one part of the show little people appear from all sides of the stage. When the last of the little people (carrying a model of horse) hops through a paper wall on the side of the stage, you can see a man in jeans walking behind the set.

Continuity mistake: In the extended version of the DVD, there's a scene where Constanza goes to sleep with Salieri. In one shot there's a very prominent candle next to or just behind her on her right that smoking like it's just been extinguished. But from the front view there are no candles that close to her, and the ones a short distance away are all lit.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Salieri has brought Mozart to bed and they are talking, Salieri is holding the candlestick. In the different views - from Mozart's and Salieri's - it can be seen that the angle he holds the candles changes. The line between the candles changesi. So Saleri held the candlestick in another angle the second time the scene was shot.

Jacob La Cour

Continuity mistake: When Mozart is playing billiards (Director's Cut only) the balls move around on the table between camera shots, without him necessarily hitting any.

David Mercier

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Salieri is helping Mozart with the requiem the candles change appearance - and not just downwards because they burn.

Jacob La Cour

Visible crew/equipment: Mozart is composing The Requiem Mass when Constanze admits a late-night caller. The door she opens reflects a large, bright square of light that looks like a sun-lit window (only it's night) - or more likely, a studio reflector. (It's definitely not the burning candles. Wrong shape.). (01:55:00)

Jean G

Factual error: In the scene where Constanza starts to undress in Salieri's rooms, it is revealed she is wearing a 1980s style strapless bustier with separate bust cups and lots of frothy lace. This is not historically accurate. Women wore corsets which shaped their torso into a conical shape, pushed the bust together and up, and they generally had shoulder straps. The corsets were also mostly unembellished, so as to keep a neat silhouette under tightly fitted dresses. (01:07:00)

Audio problem: When Constanze asks Salieri to look at Mozart's work, her mouth doesn't move when she says, "I don't mean that he's lazy... he works all day long."

LanguageFan

Continuity mistake: Mozart's pianoforte is carried outside for the concert. But while the concert is going on, Salieri goes to Mozart's home, and the just-carried-out piano is still there.

Jean G

Continuity mistake: In the opening scene when Salieri's servants offer him ice cream and cakes, the choppy servant gets ice cream on his nose. When seen from behind there is more ice on his nose than when seen from the front.

Jacob La Cour

Factual error: At the beginning of the movie when Salieri is first talking to the priest asking him if he recognizes some of his songs, they cut away to an opera. A woman can be seen descending stairs where there appears to be smoke falling down the stairs, which would have to be dry ice. While it was first discovered/observed in 1825, it wasn't commercially available until 1925.

steven_frankel

Factual error: During the ballet scene in the Marriage of Figaro, many of the costumes worn by the dancers have visible zips on them, which of course had not been invented then.

David Mercier

Factual error: The scene where Mozart is dictating the "Confutatis" to Salieri: though the real Salieri was, in truth, a very accomplished composer and musical expert, there is no way he could write down Mozart's melodies as quickly as he does in this scene. The ostinato string part is especially improbable - he writes down a combined 968 notes for four parts in less than 10 seconds. Obviously done for time purposes, but unrealistic all the same.

Texijapi

Continuity mistake: When Mozart and Salieri are discussing why Marriage of Figaro failed, a statue of a black man can be seen behind Mozart. In one shot, when Salieri invites Mozart to see his new piece, the statue isn't there. In the next shot, it's back. (01:50:25)

Continuity mistake: In opening scenes Salieri has blue eyes. After that his eyes are brown.

Continuity mistake: When Mozart checks on his sleeping son, the candles in the candle holder that he is carrying are much longer once he enters the room than before, when he is standing outside his son's room.

Steve Beckle

Continuity mistake: When Constanza goes to Salieri's house to show Mozart work, she is on his knees, the first sheet is in blank, then appear on the next scene fully written ("Director's cut", Blu Ray) (01:03:00 - 01:03:45)

aquino

Antonio Salieri: I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theater, conferring on all who sat there, perfect absolution. God was singing through this little man to all the world, unstoppable, making my defeat more bitter with every passing bar.

More quotes from Amadeus

Trivia: The producers purposely went with relatively unknown actors for the film, because they thought they'd be more believable than stars who people already identified in different roles.

More trivia for Amadeus

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.