moniquemathot

I bought this DVD because I'm a big fan of this opera and the reviews where very good. But, alas, I am a bit disappointed. One thing I maybe should have known is that Joan Sutherland is a great soprano, but not a great woman to look at and not just a bit older than Lucia is supposed to be. So although Sutherland sings her part very well, she's absolutely no feast to look at. When you add to this that the staging and the clothes of the cast are quite old-fashioned, you will understand that in the future I'll prefer listening to this DVD to watching it. And as for listening, I find this performance a little bit to much up-tempo to my liking. Especially the beautiful duet "Verranno a te sull'aure" is not, as full of as we say in Dutch "weemoed en verlangen" (melancholy and desire) as it should be, i.m.h.o. All that said, the singers in this performance are great and do a really great job.

I saw this film last week at the IFFR. According to the description it should be a beautiful film about a little Spanish village which is about to disappear because all the young inhabitants have moved to more populated areas. Helas, the film was not as beautiful as I expected. the landscape in which the village lays is absolutely not spectacular, I even found it boring. The (only fourteen) old people who still live in the village are filmed in a disorganized way. And although there is some attention for new developments (windmills being built in the neighborhood and the transformation of a former castle into a luxurious hotel), these are only mentioned and no attention is been given to the consequences of these developments for the village. On top of this all the film lasts almost two hours, which is in my opinion at least half an hour to long for what is being told in it.

I think this is quite a nice movie. In a scene that is somewhere halfway (actually I bet it's precisely halfway) you get the clue you need: there's no beginning and no end in this movie, so don't bother yourself looking for it. Once this is taken for granted, you see some quite excellent scenes, in which you are in the thick of things of the life of some (more of less) loose connected people. There is humour, affection, love, lust and sadness, and most of the players are very convincing. The only character that could be missed in my opinion was Linda, played by Franka Potente: she is playing exactly the same character as she was in 'Lola rennt' (without the running). Just an irritatingly weird girl, with no real or convincing acts and emotions, except her singing her own flamenco song. If Franka Potente can't play a character unlike Lola, I'm sorry to say I've seen enough of her by now.