As an old man in an asylum, mediocre court composer Antonio Salieri confesses the poison of a lifelong obsession: his encounter with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a vulgar, giggling young prodigy whose effortless genius mocks Salieri's pious devotion. Consumed by envy, the elder composer sets out to destroy the very talent he alone can truly recognize. Milos Forman conducts this sumptuous period drama with wit and grandeur, letting Mozart's music swell through a story about mediocrity's torment before greatness, a lavish and profoundly human meditation on jealousy, faith and the cruelty of God-given gifts.