Carmen

I'm not an opera fan ... mainly because the words usually seem so trite compared to the music which carries the real meaning of the story and actions. Anyway, after years of enjoying the music without ever seeing the Opera of Carmen I watched this video and am totally enthralled! Bravo! Encore! Francesco Rosi certainly brings the story to life in a most wonderful way using the medium of film ... Bravo! Encore!!! Bravo!!!

Musically, dramatically and operatically excellent. The leads indeed exhibit a chemistry that is hard to resist. Julia Migenes, in addition to her wonderful voice, is completely irrestible as Carmen. What fun it would have been to have seen this cast in a similar production live at the Paris Opera!

Julia M-J oozes sexuality. She is the most erotic Carmen I have ever seen at the Met, Statsoper, Covent Garden, La Scala, on TV or in flicks and I go back to the forties. The photography is superb, it gives a sun drenched washed out effect that takes you back in time when all that happens is where you want to be. People have trashed the opening Bullfight background to the overture, I don't agree but then I am not very PC and don't believe in a sanitized blood free world. In the context of a nineteenth century opera it's valid. So listen to a young Domingo and watch Julia Mi-J have her way with him. I wold rate this as an opera movie second only to the Domingo-Richiarelli Otello.

This is one of the best opera films ever made. The singing and orchestral playing are superb. The acting, directing, and scene setting made the story credible and even moving. Domingo is rather old for the role of the soldier so besotted by the sexy Carmen that he defies military orders. No matter, it works - Julia Migenes is so alluring, sings and moves so seductively, that it's not hard to imagine a man old enough to know better ruining his life for an hour with her. A must for opera lovers, and an excellent introduction to opera for those who think it's just about fat ladies playing teenage geishas and consumptive seamstresses.

Prosper Merimee wrote the novella from which French composer, Georges Bizet, got his inspiration for his opera "Carmen". His work has long been a favorite of opera lovers that see in it an exciting time because of its magnificent music. Who hasn't been enchanted in hearing some of the famous arias from this work? The quality of the music is the main asset for its popularity.

Francesco Rosi, a talented Italian director, and his collaborator, Tonino Guerra, a distinguished writer, long involved with his country's cinema, seemed the natural choices for translating Bizet's opera to the screen. Both succeeded in the way the adapted the material and took it to real locations for this extraordinary production.

Carmen was a sultry woman who enchanted men with her beauty and with her passion for life. It's easy to see how she charms Don Jose, the military man, who loses his head because he has not met another woman like this beautiful Andalucian beauty. Their love will consume them both, not before allowing them to bring all their fire into a doomed relationship.

Placido Domingo, perhaps the best rounded tenor of his generation, makes a great Don Jose. Besides his virile presence, Mr. Domingo has a treasured voice that even age doesn't seem to put a dent to it. He is a prodigy of endurance in a long career in which Don Jose has been one of his best roles. Julia Migenes projects such fire and passion she smolders the screen with her mere presence as Carmen. It's no wonder Don Jose loses his head over her. Ruggiero Raimondi, another excellent singer plays Escamillo with his usual elegant style. Faith Esham is seen as Micaela, Don Jose's loyal fiancée, who has no chance with him as he loses his soul to Carmen.

Pasqualino DeSantis' camera work enhances the vision of Mr. Rosi. The editing by Renzo Mastroianni and Collette Samprum makes one appreciate the way they blended the music and the acting into seamless performance. The music was conducted by Lorin Maazel and the Paris Opera orchestra and chorus.

Francesco Rosi deserves credit for this lovely opera film.