Plot Summary:Both trifles and structure are tossed out the door by director Ken Russell in this film. Here, historical content matters not so much as metaphors, feelings, emotions, and interpretations, and pay close attention, as every word and frame is intended to be important. The film takes place on a single train ride, in which the sickly composer Gustav Mahler and his wife, Alma, confront the reasons behind their faltered marriage and dying love. Each word seems to evoke memories of past, and so the audience witnesses events of Mahler's life that explain somewhat his present state. Included are his turbulent and dysfunctional family life as a child, his discovery of solace in the "natural" world, his brother's suicide, his [unwanted] conversion from Judiasm to Catholicism, his rocky marriage and the death of their young child. The movie weaves in and out of dreams, flashbacks, thoughts and reality as Russell poetically describes the man behind the music.
马勒(罗伯特·鲍威尔 Robert Powell 饰)出生在一个家风非常严苛的标准犹太教家庭之中,从很小的时候起,他就展现出了对于音乐的热情和天赋,在以音乐为目标不断的努力和深造之后,马勒终于如愿以偿的成为了知名的作曲家,并且迎娶了名为阿尔玛(乔治娜·黑尔 Georgina Hale 饰)的女子为妻,可谓是一举获得了事业和家庭的双重圆满。 然而,一位英俊的军人的到来令马勒和妻子之间的感情产生了裂痕。马勒因为声名远扬,所以作曲工作接连不断,埋首于五线谱之间的他自然而然冷落了阿尔玛,这亦导致了妻子对于他的感情日益淡薄。妻子的冷漠让马勒感到十分的焦虑,甚至患上了恐惧症。