Diva (film)
Diva is a film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix of 1981. It is one the first French films to let go of the realist, harsh mood of 1970s French cinema and return to the gorgeous, colourful, melodic films.
Table of contents |
Story
Jules, a postman, has secretedly and illegally recorded a concert by Cynthia Hawkins, a diva to whom he dedicates a fetish (he also manages to steal a dress). He also happesn, unbeknowned to him, to be in possession of another recording of a young prositute exposing the whereabouts of a gang of proxenetes and their accompliced in the police. The prostitute drops the recording in the bag of the motorbike moments before she is assassinated.
Jules is then persued by several parties: policemen, corrupted policemen and proxenetes, who want the prositute recording, and Taiwanese gangsters who want the Diva recording. He manages to escape them thanks to a couple of his friends who save him Deus ex machna style.
Comments
The whole film is set in a bizarre atmosphere, flirting with absurb and surrealism. The photographs, dialogues and story are extremely carefully tough, and the film was accalemed by the critics. It is now a cult film.
Amongst the interesting elements of the soundrack are the aria Ebben? Ne andrò lontana of an obscure opera, La Wally, and a pastiche of Satie's Gnossienne composed by Vladimir Cosma.
The film made a discrete debut in France on the 11th of March 1981; it had huge success in the United States of America the next year, which contributed to make it better known in France.
If nothing else, this movie creates a surreal mood and scenery and does not let the viewer down. It can be called a precursor to movies such as City of Lost Children, Amelie, and even Tim Burton's later creations, or Hideaki Anno's Shiki-Jitsu.
Casting:
- Frédéric Andréi : Jules
- Wilhelmenia Fernandez : Cynthia Hawkins
- Roland Bertin : Weinstadt
- Richard Bohringer : Gorodish
- Gérard Darmon : L' Antillais
- Chantal Deruaz : Nadia
- Jacques Fabbri : Jean Saporta
- Patrick Floersheim : Zatopek
- Thuy An Luu : Alba
Awards
- César Award for Best First Film : Jean-Jacques Beineix
- César for best music : Vladimir Cosma
- César for best photograhy : Philppe Rousselot
- César for best soundrack : Jean-Pierre Ruh
External links
Categories: Movie stubs