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Most Recent Event: April 27 & May 10, 2012 — Movie Night event and Encore presentation of Mahler auf der Couch — Canadian premiere of the film by Percy & Felix Adlon
On Friday April 27, the Toronto Mahler Society organized its first “Movie Night” at the T-Buds Tea-lounge and Créperie from 6-8pm. An enthusiastic audience packed the venue, including members of the TMS and the Toronto Friends of Classical Music among others. This evening’s presentation featured the Toronto (and Canadian) premiere of Percy and Felix Adlon’s film Mahler auf der Couch (“Mahler on the Couch”), which revolves around a fictionalized account of the encounter between Gustav Mahler and Sigmund Freud. The TMS is proud to be one of very few organizations in North America offered a public license to screen this Mahler film, the only one in Canada to date.
Patrick Lam, founder of TMS, started with an introduction on the TMS and a background to the film, while T-buds staff attended guests’ dining needs. The film lasted for 100mins. Afterwards, Patrick led a group discussion (for his presentation, click here), and by approximately 8:45pm, the event came to a close.
Overall, attending guests at the premiere agreed this was a fine film directed by the Adlon father and son duo, and congratulated on the successes of the actors. Unfortunately the video equipment fell far short of the necessary requirements, such that the film could not be fully enjoyed by our guests. Despite these circumstances and to our encouragement, the TMS had an overwhelming attendance beyond our RSVP guest list, which reached over the maximum house capacity of 35. It did not take the TMS long to realize an “Encore” to the Film was very much in need. With permission and support by the Film’s North American distributor (special thanks goes to the Adlons for recommending the TMS to them), an “Encore” event was promptly scheduled.
On Thursday May 10, the TMS presented the Film at the University of Toronto’s O.I.S.E. Building from 6:30-8:30pm. In addition to individuals who came to the premiere and repeated their RSVP again at the “Encore,” an additional 20 new guests participated. Several individuals had to make last-minute cancellations due to clashes with other priorities. To begin, Patrick provided a similar background presentation, but included two video snippets on Youtube taken from the 2010 L.A. Film Festival (watch on YouTube) and 2011 New York Jewish Film Festival (watch on YouTube). After the screening of the Film, Patrick led an active discussion with the engaging audience. Specifically, three questions were raised by Patrick:
- Were you impress with the plot? What about the actors?
- Did you find the music in this film appropriate with the plot?
- If you were Mahler, would you react any differently or would you also visit a psychiatrist?
Once again, this cohort of guests applauded for the remarkable story-line of the Film, and especially the acting of the two main actors, Johannes Silberschneider as Gustav Mahler and Barbara Romaner for both her enactment as Alma Mahler and début on the movie screen. TMS member Mladen Vranic said “he [Silberschneider] was phenomenal. I don’t know if really was Mahler’s, he portrayed all these anxieties, his faced changed all the time.” On the relationship line between Alma and Gustav Mahler touched on this film, TMS member Andrew Duic said “There is a good biography on Alma Mahler [“Bride of the Wind,” 2001]; it describes the relationship that Alma had with many lovers, very much the same way we saw it in the movie. It was quite impressive.” Moreover, the group unanimously felt the music did justice to coincide with the plot of the Film, and few asked if the actors had to be musically trained or even played some of the piano/vocal excerpts heard in the film. Mila Fitatova, one of the attendees from TFCM, said “the music for all scenes, all parts of the Movie was very, very appropriate. I find it was in great consonance with the whole drama. Sometimes I feel like the music of Mahler, not always is/should be pleasing. Not at all! It sometimes gives me pain; I love it, and I enjoy it a lot!” To elaborate on this further, TMS member John Chiu raised the interesting observations that only the “adagios” were used throughout the movie, but no usage of the “three hammer blows” (from Mahler’s Symphony No.6) was heard anywhere to coincide with the Film as it unfolds. A very keen observation.
To listen to the full discussion again, please click here.
Patrick ended the discussion stating that this film Mahler auf der Couch is not available as a commercial release in North America yet, and there is only a possibility that the film may hit cinema screens in Toronto (Canada) in the near future. He suggested that viewers should consider supporting this film in the future should it ever go public.
To conclude the evening, Patrick informed guests of the next TMS event – a Q & A event is scheduled with the soloists at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on the week of June 11th. For details to this event, stay tuned to this site or write us an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Summary prepared by: Patrick P. L. Lam
