Lisztomania

The film opens with Liszt being found in bed with Marie d'Agoult by her husband, Count d'Agoult. The Count challenges him to a sabre duel. Marie pleads for mercy, but the Count's staff traps Liszt and Marie inside the body of a piano and leaves it on railroad tracks.

The moment is revealed as a flashback triggered by a camera flash backstage before one of Liszt's concerts. The memory frames the fall from grace in a surreal, dreamlike sequence. It sets the film’s blend of fact, fantasy, and memory.

Liszt introduces Richard Wagner to his circle of colleagues, including Gioachino Rossini, Hector Berlioz, Frédéric Chopin, and Hans von Bülow. The meeting shows Liszt as the central hub of a world where genius and ambition collide. The surreal setting hints at loyalties, rivalries, and future collaborations.

Liszt pays Wagner to allow him to perform a variation on a theme from Rienzi. The arrangement marks the uneasy mix of commercial spectacle and serious musicianship in Liszt's career. Their collaboration unfolds amid backstage feints and audience expectations.

During the concert, Wagner balks at Liszt's crowd-pleasing approach, including adding a playful touch by weaving Chopsticks into the Rienzi theme. The audience, mostly young screaming girls, erupts with enthusiasm and storms the stage. The moment blurs art and entertainment into a riotous spectacle.

Carolyn seduces Liszt, offering him the power to compose brilliant music if he yields control of his life. He is torn as a hallucinatory dance sequence of Carolyn's court unfolds with her watching from a distance. The dreamlike moment signals a dangerous pledge that will reshape his life.

In an ostentatious turn, Liszt is drawn into a ritual world where the women drag him toward a guillotine. Carolyn reveals that the bargain with her will sacrifice his libertinism in exchange for artistic genius. The scene underscores the price of exceptional talent.

Back in Dresden during the May Uprising, Liszt wrestles with whether to stand with his friends or remain isolated to compose. The tension mirrors his creative crisis and personal neglect at home. It is implied that Marie and his two youngest children have been killed in the turmoil.

Wagner asks for money to flee with his family, then drugs Liszt and reveals himself to be a vampire with a mission to spark a new German nationalism. He drains Liszt’s blood and continues to compose on the piano. Before leaving, Wagner leaves a political pamphlet that nods to Nietzsche’s Superman.

Liszt and Carolyn travel to the Vatican to marry after the Pope agrees to grant a divorce from her husband. The wedding is ultimately voided by intervention from the husband and the Tsar. Liszt joins the church as an abbé.

The Pope informs Liszt that Wagner has married Cosima and now leads a devilish cult around his music. He orders Liszt to exorcise Wagner or face excommunication and a music ban. The revelation deepens Liszt’s burden and sets him on a dangerous path.

Liszt travels to Wagner’s castle to confront him; Wagner and Cosima perform a secret Nazi ritual in Superman costumes. Wagner reveals himself as a vampire and threatens to steal Liszt’s music. The castle also houses a mechanical Viking Siegfried built to rid the country of Jews.

Cosima imprisons Liszt and resurrects Wagner in a Frankenstein-Hitler persona wielding a guitar-mounted machine gun for a ritual that culminates in violence against the town’s Jews. Liszt is killed by a voodoo doll as chaos erupts around them.

In Heaven, Liszt is reunited with the women he loved and Cosima. They fly to Earth in a spaceship to destroy Wagner-Hitler, and Liszt sings that he has found peace at last.