Dalida

I went to see this with my wife (I'm American, she is French) primarily in order to please her and thinking that this would be a weepy, melodramatic biopic of interest only to hard-core fans of the late Dalida.

Guess what? I actually found it to be a quite enjoyable film, of obvious particular interest to those who know about the portrayed singer's huge professional success (she is relatively unknown in the US and the UK but was a tremendous star throughout Europe, the Middle East and Japan) shadowed by an enormous amount of personal tragedy in her life, but pretty damn good all on its own as well.

The actress who portrays Dalida is a dead ringer for her and even though it is obvious that she is lip-syncing the songs, her ability to imitate Dalida's gestures, both on and off stage, is stunning. The supporting case also does a very good job and the director carefully stays within the boundaries of what could have otherwise been a Hollywood tear-jerker type film, never descending into pure melodrama.

If you don't know about Dalida, this film is worth a look -- if you do know about her, you should definitely see it.

Her early life in Egypt was totally dropped from the movie although she lived in Cairo for almost 21 years.

And HOW COULD THEY MISS ONE OF HER MOST ICONIC SONGS FOR THE EGYPTIANS AND ARABS "Helwa Ya Baldi".

This movie would have been much better.

For so many people around the world Dalida was an amazing, life- changing icon, a woman with a powerful voice who brought joy to so many people even while her own life was mired in tragedy. Dalida's life was the stuff movies are made of. What a disappointment then that this movies makes her seem so lifeless.

Perhaps the problem here is that the filmmakers had so much to work with. Dalida had a 31 year career as a superstar, constantly remaking herself to stay on top of trends and to give new material to her fans. However instead of focusing on her career this biopic chooses to examine her through the lens of her romantic relationships many of which ended in tragedy (three of her lovers would commit suicide). As an entry way into the private life of Dalida it's not a bad start, but the script is frankly a mess. Men enter and exit Dalida's life quickly, with all the juicy material usually glossed over in montage backed by one of Dalida's songs. And after awhile these affairs start to drain the life force out of the movie. If you only had the film to go on Dalida is just a simple woman who only wants to get married and have children but keeps picking the wrong men. Her singing career seems almost incidental. At one point, Dalida tells a spiritual adviser that she feels whole when she's singing but we never see that. Instead the film treats Dalida as passive in her own career, a woman who doesn't really care for the work and instead has been built up by two men: her husband Lucien Morrise and her brother Orlando.

Sveva Alviti has a beautiful face, but is missing that star quality that made Dalida someone you couldn't take your eyes off of. Everyone else is passable. The costumes and techs are glossy and it's fun to watch them and count the passing years through the background scenery (little attempts are made to age Alviti up with makeup). The best part of the movie though are Dalida's own songs which are used generously within the film and make it almost like a longform music video.

Every biopic is a risk for the viewer. because he has his version about the life of the lead character. maybe memories. and a lot of impressions. "Dalida" is one of rare biopics who escapes from the circle of clichés and full of good intentions sketches. maybe, because it has the right director and the ideal lead actress. maybe for the beautiful elegance for present a chain of tragedies, hard work, fragility and need of happiness. maybe for the science to give to you the feeling to see a docu-drama. the admirable thing - it is not a film for the fans of Dalida. it is not exactly story of a precise existence. it is far to be a bitter fairy tale. it has the magnificent gift to be a film about chance and the price of it, about choices and about a woman looking for herself. all in a manner who, I believe, is more than inspired.

I remember Dalida's songs from my childhood. This film is a good biopic and worth to watch to learn about her more.

At first, I found it a little bit too tragic as a film but at the end her real life is unfortunately tragic. The music was obviously great. Sveva Alviti and Riccardo Scamarcio who act as Dalida and her brother/manager Orlando was great.

I wish, I would find more than Dalida's love affairs in the film such as; her dreams, her motives, her relationship with the music.

As a result, I can recommend the film to learn more about one of the best female singers in history and also it was a nice film to watch.