Puccini (2009)

Vienna, 1924: Puccini, the world-famous composer of operas finds a confidante in the journalist Liza Berman, who will accompany him on a trip into his past: The unrequited love he feels for Elvira, a married woman, who secretly returns his feelings. As a 20-year-old he is living in Milan, in bitter poverty, and barely struggles along as a musician, but upon finishing his studies he makes quite an impression. Full of hope he applies to take part in a contest for opera composers, but he is turned down. Puccini had firmly counted on winning the prize money and now faces financial straits. Thanks to the librettist Fontana, his one-act opera "Le Villi" is performed all the same. The established music publisher Ricordi now commissions Puccini to write the opera "Edgar", which turns out a flop. When Elvira leaves her husband to live with Puccini, the lovers are beset by feelings of guilt. Puccini begins to doubt himself, but due to Ricordi's support, Puccini can write in peace. Soon he triumphs in opera houses all over Europe with "Manon Lescaut", but Ricordi demands fresh supplies. A former lover, who used to be a dancer in the Cabaret, brings the novel "Vie Bohème" to his attention, a subject, which his colleague Leoncavallo is already working on. But it is Puccini who prevails with Ricordi. When Puccini tries to get rid of the overbearing conductor Toscanini as well, Ricordi resists him. "La Bohème" becomes a giant success under Toscanini's musical direction. As Puccini later gets stuck in his work at "Tosca" he waits for inspiration at night in shape of his muse Antilisa, a shy mythological animal. Again Puccini experiences a triumph. Always on the lookout for a new subject, a frustrated Puccini travels to London. There he accompanies his friend Sybil Seligman to the theatre, where "Madame Butterfly" electrifies him. Back in Italy, he develops a platonic relationship with the servant girl Doria. Elvira fires Doria and makes Puccini promise never to see her again. The young woman commits suicide. After initially failing in Milan, "Madama Butterfly" triumphs a few months and several changes later in other European cities. In Vienna, Elvira surprises Puccini with the journalist Liza Berman, but by that time Elvira's love is above the slights Puccini has inflicted on her over the years. She demands that Dr. Landauer thoroughly examines her husband, who is suffering from a chronic sore throat. The final diagnosis shows a malign tumor of the larynx. Meanwhile, the work on "Turandot" has ground to a halt. Liza takes him along to a concert of contemporary music, which he finds fascinating and unsettling at the same time, because it makes him feel that his own music sounds old-fashioned by comparison. While undergoing treatment at a Brussels hospital, Puccini confesses to Elvira that he blames himself for Doria's death. During a sleepless night he tosses the unfinished score to "Turandot" into the fireplace, but Elvira saves the manuscript. Puccini dies not long after-wards. Milan, 1926: "Turandot" is performed for the first time in the presence of Elvira and their children Tonio and Fosca, with Toscanini at the baton. He has the performance interrupted at the exact spot where Puccini had to give up his composition.