TheLittleSongbird Bride of the Wind could have been great, it was an interesting subject and I love music-biographical dramas when they're good. Bride of the Wind was a big disappointment. Sure, it is beautifully shot and looks gorgeous from a colour and production value perspective. The music, mostly from Mahler, is every bit as wonderful, and Jonathan Pryce and particularly Vincent Perez are very good. Unfortunately Sarah Wynter's Alma is devoid of any sensuality, nuances or life, it's a complete blank of a performance that only succeeds in making Alma shallow and thoroughly unlikeable. Simon Verhoeven suffers from being completely under-utilised and underwritten so he can't do anything with his character, who is just there with no depth and nothing to make him distinguishable. But that is the case with all the characters actually, excepting perhaps Gustav Mahler, they are written with no substance- you can safely say that they are literally sketched over- and at no point do you engage with them. The script is completely lifeless and full to the brim with stilted dialogue, while the story is not just dull but too often steps through its content so after the film ended things happen but with hardly anything explaining them. There are also some ridiculously misconceived plot-strands, the one with Alma and Oskar being the main culprit. All in all, looks beautiful with two good performances and wonderful music, but shallow and dull that makes you hate Alma intensely. 4/10 Bethany Cox

aussiefilmlover I was prepared for an awful movie judging from the reviews and waited until this was on DVD to see it. I wonder if I watched the same film as others.Alma's reasons for cheating and having lovers were very clearly given, she was stifled in her marriage and rather than do nothing she got satisfaction when she wanted it.rather than being some famous groupie, she was the flame and they were the moths. Had it be 100 years latter she would be the famous composer and would have been given the respect that at that time she was only given as a muse.The actress that plays Alma starts off the film well showing some of Alma's passion and intelligence but then seems to give up acting halfway through the film at the very time when in real life Alma was coming into her full power.Jonathan Price is a decent Mahler but the film doesn't show the passion that he had for Alma.Vincent Perez does an excellent job although the characterization of her third husband is far removed from the reality.The movie focus more on the narrative and the atmosphere than on the characterization of Alma who was a talented and intelligent woman who drew people to her with her beauty but also with her intelligence, wit and ability to bring out the talent in people.I wish the film showed more how she was a huge influence on the art and culture of the time. I did love that they played parts of her leiders(poems made into songs).This film is good stimulation for people to learn more about her and I must say the love scenes were very intense and erotic.

artzau I watched this bit of eye candy in the hope that the story of Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel would unfold and the world could see a portrait of a daring, talented woman who was indeed liberated in nearly every sense of the word. Mahler is one of one of my favorite composers and I became fascinated with Alma Schindler, believe it or not, from a parody sung by Tom Lehrer. However, since that time, many, many years ago, I've managed to read several excellent biographies of Mahler as well as Alma Schindler's autobiography, which leads me to comment on this film. Sadly, this film disappoints. It is a beautiful piece of work, with darkness wrought from bright colors, ala Bergman's Cries and Whispers, and with wonderful costumes. But, as the other reviews herein note, the script is weak and Sarah Wynter's performance is spotty. Indeed, the two male stars, Jonathon Pryce as Mahler and Vincent Perez as the artist, Oskar Kokoschka outshine Wynter's tentative characterization of Alma. Perez is especially bright, exuding passion and artistic madness, as biographer's have depicted the painter, a pioneer in early 20th Century expressionism. Peter Verhoeven as Gropius and Gregor Seberg as Werfel seem to get ground up and we're left wondering why they were written into the script...in spite of the fact, each played a significant role in the life of Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel. Too bad, they are underutilized. And, to continue slamming the script, they are badly depicted. Gropius, the great architectural innovator of the Bauhaus was hardly the foppish Mama's boy shown in the film. And, the passionate, multi-talented Franz Werfel, author of Song of Berndadette and Forty Days at Musa Dagh, was hardly the clowning caricature presented in the film. Even the solid performance of Welsh veteran Jonathon Pryce is led astray. The driven, passionate and often neurotic Mahler, compulsively washing his hands 12 times a day was not the staid, stoic older man shown in this film. So, alas, the great subject matter has been neglected. What results is not-a-bad movie about a fascinating woman that with a bit more research, better script, and a different leading lady could have been excellent, really excellent film.

Tireless This Biopic is the story of one of history's great professional muses, Alma Mahler. While the film recounts her marriages and dalliances with some of Europe's most talented artists (Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, Oskar Kokoschka, Franz Werfel, Gustav Klimt, etc) it tries to also document the struggles she faced trying to be her own woman. She is portrayed as a proto-feminist heroine, when another criticism might be that she was the ultimate anti-feminist relying on the men in her life to create a legacy instead of creating one herself.What ever your take on Alma's life, this is a beautifully made romance. The film aims to recreate the bohemian life of fin de siècle Vienna. It succeeds in being a pretty period period piece and unabashedly racy.While the film even draws in some unexpected depth be giving us insight into the anti-semitism Gustav Mahler faced, it remains a largely shallow effort. The fault lies partly in mediocre scripting, and partly in a less than stellar portrayal of Alma Mahler. Sarah Wynter adds no depth to the central character, portraying her largely as an icy and petulant child all her life. As one of the most fascinating women of the first half of Europe's 20th Century, the Alma Mahler must have had something that did not make it to the screen. One cannot understand why these great artists were obsessed with the the films Alma Mahler. It is really sad that in the end this is the legacy she leaves behind