Bohemian Rapture

The long-dormant Czechoslovakian film industry began its Phoenix-like resurrection in the postwar years. Set some hundred years or so in the past, Bohemian Rapture is based on events in the life of famed Czech violinist/composer Josef Slavik. The story concentrates on Slavik’s ongoing feud with the more celebrated Frederic Chopin, who accuses Slavik of stealing the affections of their mutual inamorata, Countess Anna Zasmucka. Whenever disappointed in matters of the heart, Slavik wanders into the outdoors, his inspiration eroding as rain pelts down upon him. The moral seems to be that music and women don’t mix, which at least is a break from the usual Hollywood “musical biopic” clich