Fact: Philip Arnold Heseltine (1894 - 1930) was born in London. In February 1915 he secured a job as a music critic for the Daily Mail but resigned in June frustrated by the heavy editing of his reviews. He continued to write music criticism and to lecture on music for the rest of his life. In 1918 he started composing under the musical nom de plume of Peter Warlock. Of course, the true identity of Warlock was no mystery for anybody in the classical music scene. He interacted, as critic and composer with members of te British music establishment such as Frederick Delius and his works are occasionally revived in classical radio/stream stations; some can be found in Spotify. There is no evidence he wrote criticism of his own music.
Fiction (as per this movie). Heseltine was a certifiable lunatic with split personality, the two halves being Heseltine and Warlock. As Heseltine he writes poisonous reviews (bordering on libel) of Warlock's music. The hate reviews are fancifully attributed to a violent childhood incident involving Heseltine's father burning his piano in front of him (!). The inconvenient fact that the two halves look the same is solved by making Warlock a recluse (!).
I found this movie objectionable. It attempts to pass as fact what is only fiction, and gives a demeaning, biased portrait of a person that actually existed, a portrait that may be taken by a casual viewer as fact (there is no warning or explanation at the end). For a less feverish view of the composer watch the TV film Peter Warlock: Some Little Joy (2005).
Fiction (as per this movie). Heseltine was a certifiable lunatic with split personality, the two halves being Heseltine and Warlock. As Heseltine he writes poisonous reviews (bordering on libel) of Warlock's music. The hate reviews are fancifully attributed to a violent childhood incident involving Heseltine's father burning his piano in front of him (!). The inconvenient fact that the two halves look the same is solved by making Warlock a recluse (!).
I found this movie objectionable. It attempts to pass as fact what is only fiction, and gives a demeaning, biased portrait of a person that actually existed, a portrait that may be taken by a casual viewer as fact (there is no warning or explanation at the end). For a less feverish view of the composer watch the TV film Peter Warlock: Some Little Joy (2005).