On the british reception of ken russell's mahler

Ken Russell's Mahler (1974) constitutes aesthetically and historically one of the most idiosyncratic and rewarding composer biopics. With a train as locus of the diegesis, the narrative provides overlapping flashbacks interspersed with fantasy and dream sequences. The viewer must put together Mahler's life as if in a temporal puzzle, in a non-teleological fashion that contrasts with the linear progression of time implied by the train's journey. Despite historical inconsistencies and extravagant presentation, the film offers commentary on a composer still being discovered. Its visual and aural synchronisations between Mahler's memories and his music re-construct and manipulate Mahler's-and also the audiences'-memories, and comment on the reception of Mahler's life and music at that particular point in time, thus perpetuating existing images and ideologies. Rather than a study in myth-making, making encapsulates and appropriates the reception of the Mahler myth.