Customer Reviews

Carmen

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This film production of Bizet's Carmen, shot on location in southern Spain, is magnificent. The singing and acting are first rate, as are the sound and picture quality of the DVD. Carmen, like Don Giovanni, is a complex, multi-faceted character that can be played a variety of ways. Julia Migenes portrays Carmen with raw sensuality, and it works, as we see her opposite, Don Jose (performed brilliantly by Placido Domingo), unable to escape her womanly powers. The film uses dialogue rather than recitatives, as that is what Bizet intended--Carmen is an opera comique, which means that spoken dialogue (not recitatives) are employed between the singing. The dialogue definitely heightens the drama of Carmen, and it was only after Bizet's death that sung recitatives were unfortunately used in in this opera. Because this is a film version of Carmen, there are many creative and symbolic options that couldn't be done in the opera house. The use of a live bull in the ring is extemely effective, and it is the first image we see in this film. We see how beautiful and noble the bull is, how strong and free spirited he is. This powerful and tragic image will stay with us throughout the film. The use of such symbolism allows us ultimately to compare Carmen to the brave bull who would rather die than surrender its freedom, while don Jose is the bullfighter who must kill the object he lives for and loves most. There is real frisson between Domingo and Migenes as they heat up the screen--Domingo gives an amazing performance of don Jose's gradual fall and ultimate self-destruction. There are no disappointments in the entire cast. The final act is most effective as don Jose essentially is transformed into the matador while Carmen represents the courageous bull--refusing to back down, she must die, just as the bull must be sacrificed in the ring. While they are performing their "dance of death" we are shown clips of Carmen's new lover, a matador, in the ring facing a real bull--this is a powerful juxtaposition that could obviously only be done on film. This is a striking film, one that captures the very essence of Carmen and her world, and it only gets better with repeated viewings.

I've watched this version of Carmen several times and like it more and more each viewing.

This is the first opera I've watched as a movie and the effect is certainly different than before a live audience. I don't think any movie can compare to having the performance done in the intimate setting of an opera house: and this is the reason it took me a while to appreciate this work. Having said that, this production does please the visual and auditory senses. The scenes are beautiful with a pastel quality to them: just enough color for warmth and atmosphere to complement the locations. Some of the views are panoramic while others a close-up.

The roles of Carmen and Don Jose are done by Julia Migenes -Johnson and Placido Domingo respectively. It is hard to imagine two better people for the leads.

Although Julia Migenes-Johnson has a wonderful husky voice that complements her part, it is her acting that is truly outstanding. Swiveling hips, swishing raised skirts, ringlet hair and the look that absolutely makes her the genuine temptress and seductress that her part calls for. How could poor Don Jose not fall for her?

Placido Domingo's interpretation of Don Jose is stellar. Handsome with a voice to die for! Watching his downward spiral as his relationship with Carmen deteriorates is, from a male perspective, hard to watch. The begging and pleading are heart wrenching and you cannot help feel sorry for Don Jose while at the same time wishing he would stand up for himself.

My two favorite scenes are the beautifully choreographed and sung "Habanera" and the finale "It's you! It's me!"

All in all a wonderful production of Bizet's Carmen in movie form. Highly recommended if you don't mind losing the stage effect of a live production

Julia Migenes-Johnson is the most wanton, flirtatious, outright outrageously sexual Carmen I have ever seen, or listened to, in Francesco Rosi's lush 1984 film adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera, "Carmen," filmed on location in Andalusia. The casting of the fiery femme fatale is essential to the success of the opera, because the diva must be able to project femininity, defiance and sensuality, as well as a phenomenal mezzo-soprano voice in order to be believable. After training for ten months to adapt her natural soprano to the mezzo range, Ms. Migenes-Johnson brings Carmen to life in a manner which I have never seen. Opera purists may quibble because she was cast in a mezzo role - but why not, if she can sing the part? And her singing and acting are exciting...brilliant, actually! She really makes one understand the tremendous erotic attraction between Carmen and Don Jose, and why the honorable soldier fell so tragically in love with her.

Italian tenor, Placido Domingo, excels as Don Jose, the sincere army corporal who becomes obsessed with love for the feckless gypsy woman. Domingo's voice is in top form here, and he is convincing and absolutely dashing, in what I believe is his finest screen performance. The supporting cast is superb - especially bass Ruggero Raimondi, who plays suave Escamillo, the toréador who competes for Carmen's affections; and Faith Esham, as Micaëla, Don José's lovely and loyal hometown sweetheart. Those who act the parts of Spanish peasants and gypsies, really add to the illusion of reality. The music, performed by the Orchestre National de France, conducted by Lorin Maazel, is first rate, of course.

This famous nineteenth-century opera was originally based upon a novella by Prosper Mérimée. The story is about a poor and honest soldier who is seduced by a sensuous gypsy. His love for her becomes his eventual downfall when she abandons him for a lauded toreador. The opera was looked upon as scandalous, tres risque, for the period. When it premiered, it was called "sordid" and "unmelodic."

"Bizet's Carmen," (as this film is titled in the US), is first and foremost an opera film - and so much more than a live recording of a static stage performance. This highly energetic production was shot almost entirely in southern Spain. The real sceneries, (no artificial stage sets), are shot outdoors and feature beautiful pastoral landscapes, as well as those drenched by the southern sun, the bull fight arena, and colorful gypsy camps, lending an extraordinarily rich and open atmosphere to the movie. Pasqualino De Santis' cinematography captures the settings perfectly - and his opening shots of the bull fight are exquisite and powerful. Also, Bizet's original dialogue is used, as he meant it to be, (and is well translated with English subtitles), which makes the opera more accessible to audiences. For a period, after Bizet's death, recitatives were written and commonly used in the opera's performances rather than dialogue.

One does not need to be an opera aficionado to appreciate this compelling film and become caught up in the drama and the glorious music. This is one of the first operas I watched all the way through, and I found myself riveted to the screen. I became motivated to explore other operas after enjoying this one so much, and bought the VHS tape back in the mid-1980's. I recently purchased the DVD. The only extras are two trailers. The first is of "Carmen" and the second, "The Dream Life of Angels," which is an excellent film, but I don't understand its relevance here. I'm not complaining, mind you.

I cannot recommend this film highly enough. The performances are outstanding and extremely realistic. This is a work of art to be enjoyed by the novice and opera connoisseur alike.

JANA

First a caveat: my recommendation is to always, if possible, buy a opera on DVD. DVD's are hypermedia and videotapes are linear media; the ability of hypermedia to jump from point to point rather linear media's limited ability to go only forward or backward gives you the ability to quickly find arias or other favorite parts and replay them to your hearts content.

That being said here is a DVD that is perfect for someone who wants to begin to explore the delights of opera, or who wants to give someone a great introduction to opera, or who just wants a marvelous performance of Carmen. Set in Andulusian Spain in a beautiful ancient town with the Chorus and Childrens Chorus of Radio France and the Orchestre National de France directed by Lorin Maazel, with Placido Domingo (he had sung this role about 150 times prior to this filming) as the corporal Don Jose, Faith Esham as Micaela the maiden who loves Don Jose, Ruggero Raimondi as Escamillo the toreador, Francois Le Roux as Morales, Lilian Watson as Frasquita, and Susan Daniels as Mercedes and last but certainly not least, Julia Migenes in a sizzling performance as Carmen. This DVD is an intoxicating combination of stunning scenry, a huge colorful talented cast, Bizet's timeless music, an excellent experiened orchestra and chorus, wonderful dancing by Compagnie Antonio Gades (El Amor Brujo), director Francesco Rosi's (Three Brothers) great sense of theater and staging. The digitally remastered video and sound quality are quite good and the audio would probably be even better if your television is set up with the latest in sound and speaker systems. A few scenes in this film are staged in settings different from the libretto and this performance uses the original dialog rather than the recitatives which were composed after Bizet's death and which are generally used in contemporary performances. Since it was filmed seventeen years ago there are few extras on the DVD. Enjoy.

This production of Carmen is superlative by any measure. The casting is perfect, with all characters entirely believable in their roles. Julia Migenes is an excellent vocalist whose lovely singing voice is packaged with a first-rate acting and dancing ability. She truly brought Carmen to life in a way that the typical stage production cannot. Her attention to details such as gestures and eye movements were astounding throughout the production. I am amazed that she has not been more visible since this film because she is a real treasure. The quality of acting and singing by all of the characters, even the secondary ones such as the soldiers, the bandits, and Carmen's gypsy friends, was excellent with all players entirely credible in their roles. Ruggero Raimondi is perfect as Escamillo and of course Placido Domingo may be the best Don Jose ever. Faith Esham is a lovely Michaela with a wonderful voice more than equal to her part.

And the scenery! Ravishing. No stage production can ever transport one to Andalusian Spain like this film. Beautifully photographed with the scenes and action perfectly coordinated with the flow of the music.

Are there faults with this production? Yes. The greatest is that the charming trio and chorus "Quant au douanier," has been excised from the 3rd act. M. Bizet I am sure would not approve of that. The disc tracks are often inconvenient. For example, one cannot cue to the beginning of the 4th act, one must cue to the fight scene in the third act and fast forward. Occasionally stage direction is sacrificed to the director's vision as at the end of act 2 when the bandits are singing to the lieutenant to move along "sans vous faire prier" all the while tying him up in a chair. I always love the pomp and circumstance of the parade in act 4 but in this version the picadors, matadors, etc. simply pull up to the bullring in carriages and walk in the door. A bit disappointing.

That said, it all amounts to nitpicking when taking the grand view. This production brings a new standard of realism and depth of emotion to Carmen, which I hold to be the most beautiful of operas. If you love Bizet's masterpiece, you will certainly treasure this presentation, and Leonard Maltkin should stick to reviewing Jim Carrey flicks, because he is way off on this one.

If Friedrich Nietzsche watched Carmen twenty times, then why can't we? But which version? Perhaps this is one time that purists should deviate from their allegiance to staged productions and buy the on-location movie, directed by Francesco Rosi and starring Julia Migenes-Johnson as Carmen and Placido Domingo as Don Jose.

Granted, the Covent Garden production featuring Maria Ewing as Carmen has many stellar qualities as well. But in it Nuria Espert, the renowned actress/director, chose to portray Carmen as such a cruel figure that her sexuality is confuted by her eagerness to harm others. This is not the Carmen that Bizet had in mind nor the one portrayed in Rosi's film.

Rosi's Carmen, Migenes-Johnson, demonstrates an exquisite dramatic ability from beginning to end, with eyes, body, and voice able to project defiance, sexuality, disgust, and even resignation as the occasion demands. She dances and strips steamily for Don Jose at Lilla Pastia's tavern and manages somehow a perfect foot flick of her skirt into the hands of that poor sap as he awaits the consummation of his fantasy, grown that much stronger from a month's incarceration on Carmen's account. But Carmen can be fatalistic as well, as when she reads the cards forecasting her death at the beginning of Act III, or sad, so very sad, outside the bullring at the conclusion of the opera when she goes to meet her fate. Everything in this production is sung well, including the part of Escamillo, played by the dashing Ruggero Raimondi, and the part of Michaela, played by the necessarily sweet Faith Esham. Domingo, of course, is in his prime.

No other version of Carmen so vividly portrays the essential conflict of the opera: that of duty, honor and obedience on the one hand and freedom and sexuality on the other. The soldier's life versus the gypsy's. Rosi's decision to begin the movie with the bullfight scene and the actual killing of a bull (Note that there is no disclaimer about no animals being killed in the making of the film) is brilliant. We start with a bullfight and end with a bullfight. Begin with the inevitable death of a toro and end with the inevitable death of Carmen. There is a perfect metaphorical parallelism here. For what is Carmen's story but that of unbridled wildness necessarily killed off?

Rosi's location filming of Carmen succeeds in representing a time and place more engagingly and thoroughly than any stage production could. The harsh light of southern Spain quickly draws the viewer into the ambience of Seville. The tobacco factory is a marvelous exercise in controlled pandemonium mixed with pre-industrial production (notice the babies and toddlers in the factory and the gaiety of the women workers). The gypsy encampment is so very picturesque in Act II. And everywhere in this movie there is dust. There must be dust. This sense of verisimilitude and chronological and scenic appropriateness are enhanced by superb camera work, terrific interior lighting, and a genius's sense of film composition. Many times while viewing this Carmen I hit "pause" on my DVD remote control so that I could admire the spatial construction and lighting of a particular shot. "Like a painting," I would say to myself, "Like a painting."

Nietzsche wrote about Carmen: "How such a work makes one perfect. One becomes a `masterpiece' oneself." This is a good version of Carmen on which to test Nietzsche's theory.

Everything other reviewers have said about the passion Migenes-Johnson brings to the role is true. In DVD, the viewer controls the subtitles, so those VHS complaints go away. This realization of Bizet's opera is really a hybrid -- neither true movie nor true opera, but the medium is perfect for the story and the music. I loved the camera angles and the adaptation of the original to this medium. Not a substitute for the staged opera, but much more satisfying visually and the singing is superb.

Although I like Carmen, it is not one of my favorite operas. I have seen it performed many times and have always felt somewhat let down, probably because widespread use of the music in cartoons and advertisements tends to make it seem trite. However, this is absolutely my favorite DVD and it actually is the reason that I bought my DVD player (the VCR version is pitifully truncated, especially the knife fight). Few songs are overused more than the Toreador song but I was nonetheless bowled over my the smoky masculinity of Raimondo as Escamillo and his performance of the Toreador song is far and away my favorite. Escamillo serves as a counterpoint to the tragic Don Jose who is emasculated by his desire for Carmen. Domingo is, without doubt, one of the worlds best tenors. His singing, as always, is excellent and his acting brings out the tragedy of the don Jose character. Julia Migenes is perfect as the gypsy temptress. She is dark and sexy and dangerous. Yes, she has hair under her armpits and she rolls a cigar on her thigh but I do not expect a gypsy temptress to look like Catherine Deneuve. She also sings the part of Carmen beautifully. I also like the lesser scenes which are rarely mentioned, such as the knife fight and fugue where the smugglers and the gypsy women are gathered together in the tavern. I cannot imagine which scenes are regarded as cheesy by Maltin and other critics. They must be seeing something that I miss. I consider myself to be an opera lover and an art film aficionado and this Carmen ranks in my highest category.

The performances in this rendition of Carmen were splendid and the acoustics were excellent. I would highly recommend this DVD, but with only one small warning.

It is not well known, but there are two different versions of Bizet's opera Carmen. The original version written entirely by Bizet himself, is rarely, if ever, performed. That is the version presented on this DVD. The only difference is in the so-called "recitative" parts. Bizet's original version had the singers simply speaking, not singing, during the recitatives.

Because Bizet's original "spoken" version was not initially well received, he decided to eliminate all speaking parts and replace them with sung-out "recitative" parts. Unfortunately, he died before he could could undertake this project. However, others completed it after his passing.

The version usually performed in opera houses today, and found in the typical vocal score, is the revised version where the "recitatives" are sung. However, the version used in this DVD is the original, where the "recits" are spoken and use different words than those used in the more commonly sung recitatives. For most people, this won't matter (or may be found to be a plus). For the opera singer trying to learn a part, this version won't give you all the recitatives in your score.

However, even for that small group of listeners, I'd still recommend it as the vast majority of it matches the current vocal score, and it's done extremely well.

Francesco Rosi, in much the same manner as Franco Zefferelli, directed a stunning and dramatic film about a popular opera. As with Verdi's La Traviata, Carmen is one of those mainstream, instantly recognizable and popular operas that even people who do not have in-depth knowledge or appreciation of opera. Georges Bizet's opera was based on the novella by Prosper Merimee, about a seductive Gypsy named Carmen who lures an innocent Spanish soldier (Don Jose) to a life of crime. When Carmen falls for a bullfighter, (Escamillo) she jilts him, but he becomes so jealous that he stabs Carmen in a crime of passion.

The powerful emotions, as well as sexy Spanish tunes, were all beautifully composed by Georges Bizet. The role of Carmen is a mezzo soprano role, but many sopranos have tried their hand at the alluring heroine- she is, quite frankly, opera's most liberal, independent and modernistic heroines. Maria Callas, Beverly Sills, Tatiana Troyanos, Grace Bumbry and Shirley Verret have most notably performed the roles successfully. In the Rosi film, shot on location in Seville and other parts of Spain, Carmen is portrayed by Julia Migenes Johnson. It has been said before, Julia Migenes Johnson, although Spanish herself, could not capture the true essece of Bizet's heroine.

Her voice is not suited for the feisty, sexy heroine and although she must have practiced considerably, she fails to become the fatal Carmen. Julia's voice is not pretty, not does it sound "French", or Spanish for that matter. Her only successful parts come at the end, in which she confronts Don Jose at the bullfight, dressed elegantly in red and meets her death at his hands. The very scene is symbolic. At the bullfight, Escamillo, Carmen's new lover, is fighting a bull, and just as he stabs the bull to its death, Don Jose stabs Carmen to her death. Carmen is herself as free and untamed as the bull, and only the domineering, jealous, crazed Don Jose could end her life and terminate that freedom.

Of all the performances in the film, Placido Domingo as Don Jose is the most gratifying. A true actor, Placido immerses himself in the character, becoming the romantic, jealous and dark soldier whose obscession for Carmen becomes a sort of madness. Placido Domingo is the modern Enrico Caruso. Few tenors have his dramatic potential combined with great rich tenor vocal qualities. Ruggero Raimondi is the baritone who portrays Escamillo, and he does it very successfully. A handsome, earthy man, he fits the role of the boastful, macho bullfighter that wins Carmen's attentions. Faith Esham sings the role of Micaela, a character in Bizet's opera but not in the Merimee novella. Micaela is the beautiful, sedate, modest Christian young woman whom Don Jose is engaged to marry, but the woman he abandons for the more exciting and seductive Carmen. The cinematography of the film is lush, realistic and symbolic. The musical score finely arranged and conducted. As a film, this opera makes for great drama. Music classes should even see this film for some kind of lesson plan. It is also one of Placido Domingo's greatest roles, some would say the greatest.