Io, Don Giovanni

One of my favourite films is 'Amadeus' which relates the life of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the perspective of his rival at the Viennese Court, Antonio Salieri.

Both composers feature in the Italian/Spanish co-production 'Io, Don Giovanni' but this time the perspective and focus is Lorenzo da Ponte, the Priest exiled from Venice who travels to Vienna where he collaborates with Mozart to create 'Don Giovanni'. For me, 'Amadeus' was a thrilling exposition of the genius that was Mozart but 'Io, Don Giovanni' falls short by comparison.

Although the style of 'Io, Don Giovanni' is similar to 'Amadeus' the effect by contrast comes across as artificial. It is as though the characters are fictional and the story a soap opera style pot boiler. 'Io, Don Giovanni' does contain some glorious images and the scenes featuring Mozart's operas are often very fine indeed but the film is not a match for the Mozart bio-pic.