Like Tchaicovksy before him composer Gustav Mahler gets cuffed about in grand fashion in this bio on his life by Ken Russell. Russell as usual pulls no punches while landing some low blows in this brilliantly sardonic take on the composer conductor's life and career.

Gustav Mahler ( Robert Powell ) ill but unaware he' ll be dead within a year rides exhausted aboard a train across the Eurpeon landscape with his wife whose looking to get off at the next stop with a lover. In the depths of despair he reflects upon his past; a brutal father, a brothers suicide, a death of a child infidelity , religious conversion to attain status as well as the immediate problem of holding onto his wife.

Such downward spiral tragedy is prime Bergman territory but in the hands of Infant Terrible Russell it is a wild, irreverent , dark humored ride down the tracks accompanied by the composers magnificent writings both skillfully and comically matched to imagery and situation. Cosima Wagner as a Brunhilde Nazi, the impoverished siblings as the Marx Brothers, the sacrilegious conversion rite intermixed with scenes of pastoral beauty that inspired him unfold at a rapid and provocative tempo.

Powell is a dead ringer for the composer and he does a commendable job of conveying his ego, cynicism and vulnerability huddled in his exclusive passenger car. It is Russell's jaundice and vivid interpretation though that will leave the viewer mesmerized or revolted. With Ken's films there is no in between.

Robert Powell plays Gustav Mahler, Georgina Hale plays Alma Mahler (when she wasn't Alma Gropius, Alma Werfel or fooling around with some other Viennese) and England plays Austria in this visually stunning movie by Ken Russell.

I'm not generally fond of Russell's movies, but this one is intended as a fantasia in which Mahler's music is used for balletic pieces, often using a lot of Nazi symbolism. It's the sort of over-the-top visuals that Russell often used (along with a lot of homoerotic imagery) that usually makes me simply roll my eyes. Here it actually works, and works brilliantly. The story-telling around it is not as compelling; Russell's idea of biography is not mine. However, that isn't really the point of this film.

Ken Russell can go either way for me, but Mahler I find absolutely fascinating and one of his better films. There are a couple of touches that are perhaps excessively weird and hard to swallow or completely believe like Cosima Wagner as a dominatrix and Mahler biting into a pig snout. Even with those touches though, Mahler is actually in a way one of Russell's more restrained efforts and all the better for it. The film is beautifully shot, the period lovingly evoked and the locations stunning to look at. The music is phenomenal, and is utilised very well here. The effective being that of Kindertotenlieder in the wonderful sequence where Alma is searching for her children. Russell directs with a restrained but unmistakable style and the film is finely scripted by him even if it is purposefully talky. The story unfolds slowly, but is continually riveting. Robert Powell not only bears some semblance to Mahler but also gives a performance of great depth and subtlety. Georgina Hale gives him excellent support as Alma, and it was interesting to see a portrayal of Hugo Wolf, played ably here by David Collings. Overall, a fascinating film whether you're a classical music fan, a newcomer to the style or not, though it is one of those movies that I don't see everybody being totally enamoured with. 9/10 Bethany Cox