Synopsis
Actor and writer Stephen Fry explores his passion for the world's most controversial composer, Richard Wagner. As a life-long fan can Stephen, who is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, salvage Wagner's music from its dark associations with anti-Semitism and Hitler?
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Cast
- Stephen FryHimself
Recommendations
- 80
NPR
Somehow, without soft-pedaling the nastier angles of Wagner's life and legacy, Wagner & Me lands on the side of joy and defiance - broadly speaking, Fry decides not to let the terrorists win. - 75
New York Post
In addition to the magnificent music, the movie takes its rumpled charm from Fry's unfeigned fanboy manner. - 63
Slant Magazine
Even when Wagner & Me seems uneven as an art historical study, it's fairly successful as a travelogue. - 60
Village Voice
Most of the time, though, Fry is an unabashed appreciator. He paws at costumes, thrills to touch Wagner's own piano, and looks right at the camera to apologize for being so excited. It's the light, charming touch absent in Wagner - and proof that both of the famous men referred to in the title benefit from each other's association. - 60
Variety
For Fry, the music's complexity, ambiguity, innovation and humanity far surpass Wagner's personal limitations. He may not convince his viewers of the rightness of his conclusions, but he certainly makes a fervent case for the triumph of art over biography. - 60
The New York Times
In the documentary Wagner & Me, the actor Stephen Fry, an ardent admirer of the music of Richard Wagner, wrestles with a longstanding problem for Wagner fans: how to reconcile that composer's musical genius with his racism. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Patrick McGrady's documentary strains to reconcile its conflicting moods, but Fry's gushing enthusiasm for the subject is ultimately if sometimes queasily infectious. - 50
The A.V. Club
Fry is Jewish, and his wrestling with what it means to venerate the music of someone who wrote of his revulsion for Jews adds a fascinating personal angle to this otherwise dry film.