Il Boemo

A luxuriant biopic of the eighteenth-century composer Josef Mysliveček, Petr Václav’s Il Boemo chronicles the Czech musician’s travails and triumphs as an outsider attempting to make it as an opera composer in cut-throat, cosmopolitan Italy. Mysliveček is a man of talent, but also of magnetic charm, who multiplies his sexual conquests as he progresses from court to court, all the while trying to keep his head above water.

Exquisitely shot in warm tones, Václav’s film takes place in a number of Italian cities, but it refuses to offer us touristic images of the bel paese or indulge in baroque displays of period details. We are instead immersed in elaborate indoor scenes rich in atmosphere and human interaction – such as the tense, dazzlingly edited premiere of Myslivecek’s opera in Naples – that allow actors the room to breathe and perfect their performances.

Centring on two eventful decades in the composer’s time in Italy, Il Boemo depicts the earnest efforts of a gifted artist to actualise himself despite compromises and creeping poverty. That Mysliveček’s life coincided with the epochal appearance of Mozart gives his story a tragic dimension. With wisdom and tenderness, Il Boemo evokes how history passed by Mysliveček even as he was trying to find a place in it.

– Srikanth Srinivasan

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