Every Best Picture Oscar Winner Ranked Worst To Best

Despite being named after Mozart, Miloš Forman's stunning biopic Amadeus is actually about his great rival Antonio Salieri, a composer stuck in an endless cycle of bitterness and disillusionment due to the younger musician's talents.

Though it may sound like your standard costume drama, the true joy of Forman's vision is how deliriously fun it is, balancing its dark tale of obsession and competition with a surprising amount of humour and heart to create a biopic that defies convention at almost every turn.

And that's without getting into the towering performances of F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce, both of whom work wonders to capture the conflicted relationship of two geniuses unable to come to terms with themselves or each other, and bring the film to life with a bracing energy that can't be ignored.