Wagner for fans and others...
> Wagner & Me
4 stars (out of 5)
Director: Patrick McGrady
Cast: Stephen Fry
Rating: (G)
I have to 'fess up to lacking the Wagner gene. He is too German, too serious and goes on for too long for my tastes.
Perversely, it is that very lack of Wagner empathy that for me made Wagner & Me (Metro) such an absorbing documentary.
Stephen Fry first heard Wagner when he was 11 and it was instant rapture. For him listening to the music is a quasi-religious experience because it allows him access to emotional depths that he believes he would be unable to negotiate on his own.
Normally such a fruity expression of the power of music would make me shudder, but Fry's utter sincerity and lack of intellectual conceit gives his passion a charm.
Walking where Wagner walked and touching what Wagner touched makes him go all goosy, like the silliest Justin Bieber fan.
It is rather endearing and when he is not quivering with delight he manages to impart a fair slab of Wagner history, as well as encourage Wagner sceptics to give him a go.
However, Wagner & Me is more than an introduction to a difficult genius.
Wagner is not just tricky because his music is complex - there is also the little matter of how much the Nazis loved him.
Best thing: Fry's passion turns out to be contagious.
Worst thing: The fake dilemma of Fry supposedly wrestling with his conscience, when he admits later it was a foregone conclusion that he would be unable to forsake Wagner.
See it with: A high tolerance for Stephen Fry.
- Christine Powley
