In the opening titles, Russell himself called this a "comic strip", and he was right. This isn't so much "about" Richard Strauss as it is a caricature of notions extrapolated from his source materials and fantasies on myths about his life. At many points, I was convinced I was watching a Russ Meyer movie. Only someone of Ken Russell's genius could pull off this outlandish camp-fest, and on the movie's terms, it really does come off. I must say, Russell gets the Symphonia Domestica exactly right.