Diva (1981)

That fact that I could listen to the “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana” aria from “La Wally” all day helps gets this off to a cracking start, and then we have a young fan in the form of moped postie “Jules” (Frédéric Andréi) - a lad with a distinctly Jean-Pierre Aumont look to him, who manages to make a sneaky recording. Why sneaky? Well that’s because the singer, “Cynthia Hawkins” (Wilhelmina Fernandez) hates recordings and so has never made a record. The star-struck “Jules” goes backstage after the performance for an autograph, has a quick chat with her before managing to steal her silk gown and heading back to his apartment in a derelict old garage. Here he has some state of the art audio equipment that powerfully reproduces the beauty of her singing. What he doesn’t know, though, is that an altercation we saw earlier on the streets has resulted in a murder and the perpetrators are all part of a white slavery business trading from North Africa. It seems the victim had made a cassette identifying the ring-leader and she plonked this in his mail pouch. Now we have two tales, and that helps sow seeds of confusion as the plot expands and he finds himself in quite a bit of peril. First off, there are these corrupt cops trying to get the confession back. Second off, there are some dodgy Oriental businessmen who want hold of his illicit concert reel so they can make a fortune. When he takes that one to the opera-loving friend of his hooker pal “Alba” (An Luu), he only manages to involve the fastidious “Gorodish” (Richard Bohringer) as we discover whom the true kingpin is and that his henchmen are truly evil. What plays out now is part comedy, part thriller and I thought Andréi held it together really quite well as it entertainingly trod a line between the mischievous, the serious, the musical and the menacing. Bohringer has precious few lines, but his character and his big-eyed Citröen 11 become more and more crucial as our young protagonist tries to stay one step ahead of the “spic” with the pick. We don’t see quite enough of Fernandez, with whom our young pal gradually starts to bond, but she does manage to exude something of the loneliness of her transient, if highly successful, profession and she also provided a glorious soundtrack now and again. I don’t know that I’ve seen an operatic scenario used quite like this for a crime drama before! The last fifteen minutes provide quite a feat of reconciliation amidst the dingy settings and there’s even a tiny bit of affection as the threads come together. Not sure I’d want to share a mattress with a guy in a motorcycle helmet, though!

**A very experimental film in terms of visuals and aesthetics, but one that disappoints us due to the poor conception of the characters and the lack of harmonization of the plot.** This film harmoniously brings together two arts that I greatly value: cinema, of course, and opera, which for me is the most complete, challenging and versatile stage art that exists. Although the film is not about opera and is far from perfect, it is delightful to hear Wilhelmenia Fernandez's melodious voice. Unfortunately, the script could have been better: there are a number of rough edges that should have been polished. Jean-Jacques Beineix gives us a stylized work, with notes of artistic quality, however, the story he tells us has problems: it all starts with a fan's curious obsession with his favorite opera singer. After stealing the dress she wore during a recital, he becomes friends with a young Vietnamese woman who steals records from a music store. Shortly afterwards, their paths cross with a group of dangerous killers who claim victims in public, disguised as police officers. After some more time, the opera singer finally meets her obsessed fan and becomes friends with him. That is, what we have are two subplots that try to intertwine into a single story. The problem is that the union doesn't work out very well: they are too different and both want the same type of attention and protagonism. It doesn't work! With the exception of the opera singer, the characters are uninteresting, unsympathetic or underdeveloped, and there is no logic in the way they move and the decisions they make (not even the singer, who is suddenly unaware of the fact that her voice has been finally recorded – something she didn't allow and hated – and starts to feel incredible about having an obsessive fan behind her). What's good about this film? The look and aesthetics. The cinematography is quite skillful in experimenting with light, shadow and framing, and there is some originality in the way the editing and editing were done. I really liked the work developed by Wilhelmeina Fernandez, as I said, but I also think that Frédéric Andréi tried his best to rise to the challenge he faced, even with weak material and a virtual absence of charisma. However, the rest of the cast is disappointing. Just a note of curiosity: it was the first film by Dominique Pinon, a French actor who would become one of the best of his generation.

Despite the ridiculous premise, namely the idea of Taiwanese gangster trying to get a hold of a bootleg recording of an opera singer (to blackmail her to signing a contract with them), the movie is better than I thought it would be going in. There are a couple big downsides that keeps me from giving it a higher rating. One is that this opera singer (Cynthia) finds solace with a young postman (Jules) who is pretty much a stalker (who stole her dress after a performance). The other bigger issue, is one dubious hero is a child predator who has a girl, easily only 13-14 years old, living with him. They don't explicitly show a sexual relationship but it's implied. I know this is France in the early 80s, just made me uncomfortable. Still, some decent scenes, one a chase through Paris and the Metro, that makes it worthwhile and oddly, the relationship between Jules and Cynthia still works in spite of how they meet. Also noteworthy is the beautiful cinematography, some wonderful images. **3.5/5**

This was outstanding. Opera could very much be a metaphor for film to me, and the great way that opera dominates the life of addict Jules here could easily apply to me in my approach to film, and ANY remarkable actress of today. For example, if I could travel back in time, I would easily have felt this way about Garbo, who is my favourite actress ever... Probably the best thing Luc Besson ever laid his hands on...