Magic Flute Diaries

For us lovers of Mozart and the Magic Flute, a new version is always welcomed with great interest. We lately had Kenneth Branagh's bizarre British production in 2006 with new English libretto (text) by Stephen Fry. Most connoisseurs agree that nothing can match Ingmar Bergman's Swedish version of 1974, which fortunately still is available on DVD with the good music score in stereo and English subtitles. Most CD recordings use the original German language.

As for this new version, it pretends to be a 'North American' effort to show Salzburg a variant of the opera. Warren Christie (33) is a sympathetic actor and well suited as prince Tamino and the narrator of the story. As stated in the film, most 'princes' in other stagings are often at least 45 years old and 200 pounds heavy. (Bergman's prince was 28 and handsome. Papageno, sung by a funny Hakan Hagegard (then 29) has never been made better.) The main suspense with a new version is whether one likes the new performers and can believe in them. The next element of suspense is what has been changed or cut. The beginning here suffers because Tamino never gets to sing his well-known opening aria, and the first aria of the Queen of the Night has been cut to pieces with all the best and famous parts left out. Besides, she looks like a drag-queen. Pamina is supposed to be Russian here, but was not worth the diplomatic complications according to my taste. Monostatos is not black, for a change.

As for the subplots, they seem to wander off too much towards the end in passages with music alien to both the opera and Mozart, but that is also a matter of taste.¨ My overall impression is that the music editing should have been handed over to a person with more reverence for Mozart's score and understanding of music in general. The result here consists of haphazard cuts that sometimes don't even belong together, and with the best parts left out.

While there is much lacking in this film--the script needed more work in order to make the plot more understandable (especially for people unfamiliar with The Magic Flute)--it still contains a number of really lovely elements. The scenery was beautiful and served the music well. The film/camera work was often daring, also well suited to the score. And some the performances were quite strong; of course Hauer had the impressive presence he usually has, but Kelly Campbell, I thought, did a great job of playing the girlfriend who has to deal with mixed messages from her rather distracted guy. Not only can she clearly sing beautifully well, but her performance was, perhaps, one of the most realistic in the film--totally believable (I certainly felt more sympathy for Sandra/Papagena than for other characters in the film.) This meant that the transitions between 'reality' and fantasy were, in her scenes, quite convincing (admittedly, with some of the other characters, the transitions came off a little... hoaky). Campbell was impressive in Papagena's more "theatrical" scenes as well as in the scenes that required more subtle characterization. I was impressed-- though more by the acting than the film itself. (I'm of the admire-the-good-parts school of film criticism, I guess, and can't bear to discredit performances just because the directing, writing, or editing is flawed.)

If you are looking for a Hollywood movie, you can look elsewhere. This movie is a portrait/musical/drama with several plots moving through the movie at the same time (and successfully, very pleasant to watch!). Actors should be credited with an overall very good performance.

If you enjoy fairytale/musical/Mozartian entertainment, this is a movie for you! I'm giving it a 6 because, although it was entertaining it was a little dragged out at some places. Also, it seems like it is targeted for a wee bit younger audience as it could easily pass as a children's movie. The graphics weren't very impressing either, but considering their budget/setting they made what they could with it and did it well.