Just read between the lines of his audio commentary to this calamity of a film.
To be honest there aren't that many lines in the first place as Russell seems lost delivering an audio commentary on his own and without Mark Kermode to prompt him and keep him on track. There are long gaps in the commentary that are occasionally broken by dull observations from the director.
This is not a DVD review but Russell's commentary does reveal a great deal about the huge flaws in this film and the director who seemed so obsessed with shocking his audience probably comes as close as he ever did to apologising for taking things too far even by his own extreme standards.
Some of his comments can be easily re-interpreted:
Russell: 'Raising money on classical subjects is not the easiest profession so I'm taking a holiday from that.'
Actual meaning: 'No one will allow me to make another feature film on the life of a composer after the monumental disaster of Lisztomania.'
Russell: 'To really appreciate the film you'd have to know quite a bit about the reality behind Liszt.'
Actual meaning: 'If you knew nothing about Liszt before seeing the film then you'll be none the wiser afterwards.'
Russell: 'Maybe it wasn't as successful as I'd have hoped it would be.'
Actual meaning: 'It was a catastrophe that ruined my career.'
Russell: 'In drawing the facts together I've probably annoyed the Wagner family more than I might have.'
Actual meaning: 'I deeply offended and insulted the Wagner family for showing the following:
1) Wagner as a vampire who sucked blood from Liszt's neck
2) Wagner as a mad Frankenstein-like scientist who used his music to create a monster in his laboratory that would turn Germany into a great country
3) Hitler as another monster that was created out of Wagner's body.
Russell: 'I raised the odd eyebrow as I saw it.'
Actual meaning: 'This film is totally over the top and I'm embarrassed by it.'
Russell even stops his commentary nearly 6 minutes before the end of the film as though he couldn't bear it any longer and wanted to get out of the studio as quickly as possible.
I don't blame him.
I saw Lisztomania out of curiosity as it had been denounced as the most extreme of Russell's films so I shouldn't have been too surprised by what I saw but there really is nothing to recommend this film apart from Paul Nicholas who is actually quite good as Wagner.
The film critic Alexander Walker likened Russell's The Devils (which incidentally is a much better film and nowhere near as over the top when you consider the subject matter) to the masturbatory fantasies of a Roman Catholic boyhood. Lisztomania seems like the masturbatory fantasies of the director himself.
There's really no pleasure to be had in watching someone as talented as Russell undoubtedly was taking his career and flushing it down the toilet.
Give it a miss.
To be honest there aren't that many lines in the first place as Russell seems lost delivering an audio commentary on his own and without Mark Kermode to prompt him and keep him on track. There are long gaps in the commentary that are occasionally broken by dull observations from the director.
This is not a DVD review but Russell's commentary does reveal a great deal about the huge flaws in this film and the director who seemed so obsessed with shocking his audience probably comes as close as he ever did to apologising for taking things too far even by his own extreme standards.
Some of his comments can be easily re-interpreted:
Russell: 'Raising money on classical subjects is not the easiest profession so I'm taking a holiday from that.'
Actual meaning: 'No one will allow me to make another feature film on the life of a composer after the monumental disaster of Lisztomania.'
Russell: 'To really appreciate the film you'd have to know quite a bit about the reality behind Liszt.'
Actual meaning: 'If you knew nothing about Liszt before seeing the film then you'll be none the wiser afterwards.'
Russell: 'Maybe it wasn't as successful as I'd have hoped it would be.'
Actual meaning: 'It was a catastrophe that ruined my career.'
Russell: 'In drawing the facts together I've probably annoyed the Wagner family more than I might have.'
Actual meaning: 'I deeply offended and insulted the Wagner family for showing the following:
1) Wagner as a vampire who sucked blood from Liszt's neck
2) Wagner as a mad Frankenstein-like scientist who used his music to create a monster in his laboratory that would turn Germany into a great country
3) Hitler as another monster that was created out of Wagner's body.
Russell: 'I raised the odd eyebrow as I saw it.'
Actual meaning: 'This film is totally over the top and I'm embarrassed by it.'
Russell even stops his commentary nearly 6 minutes before the end of the film as though he couldn't bear it any longer and wanted to get out of the studio as quickly as possible.
I don't blame him.
I saw Lisztomania out of curiosity as it had been denounced as the most extreme of Russell's films so I shouldn't have been too surprised by what I saw but there really is nothing to recommend this film apart from Paul Nicholas who is actually quite good as Wagner.
The film critic Alexander Walker likened Russell's The Devils (which incidentally is a much better film and nowhere near as over the top when you consider the subject matter) to the masturbatory fantasies of a Roman Catholic boyhood. Lisztomania seems like the masturbatory fantasies of the director himself.
There's really no pleasure to be had in watching someone as talented as Russell undoubtedly was taking his career and flushing it down the toilet.
Give it a miss.