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!!!

I want to comment on the review of Mike. The fact that he writes: "the vast armpit hair on Carmen" and that he finds the subtitles annoying doesn't make a movie awful. He watched the movie against his will at school. But if you do enjoy opera, and realise that in the time this movie is shot or represents the ladies didn't shave there armpits this is a pretty good movie. Good sets, deep, classic story and the camera work is okay but what can you aspect from an opera that is written to be watched from just 1 angle, the audience in front of the stage. This movie is a French classic with all the good singing of an opera, good sets, average camerawork and good stage acting. (An opera is always more body language because of the fact it used to be in a hard language to be understanded from the "normal" people.). So, enjoy this movie!

Julia M-G is amazing! Despite not being the most physically stunning of women, she radiates such fire that you cannot help but see how every man she walks by falls in love with her version of Carmen. Placido Domingo, of course, is superb (and it's cool to see him when he was young and relatively slender). The movie is shot beautifully, on location in Spain, and the little details of the setting add to the pleasure of watching this wonderful film. I'll admit up front that I'm not a real opera connoisseur. In fact, there are not that many operas I really like. This movie is pretty much the entire reason I started enjoying opera at all, and it has become for me the standard against which I judge all renditions of Carmen. Obviously, most Americans won't like this movie, but then again, it wasn't made for them.

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!

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.