Product Details

• Actors: Anne-Sophie Schmidt, Patricia Petibon, Nadine Denize, Laurence Dale, Jan Latham-Koenig
• Directors: Don Kent, Marthe Keller
• Format: Anamorphic, Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: French (PCM Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Japanese
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Arthaus Musik
• DVD Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Run Time: 156 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000053GTD
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,618 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Francis Poulenc: L'Opéra National du Rhin" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

French composer Francis Poulenc was both an ardent Catholic and a free-loving homosexual, making the achievement of his intensely personal opera, Dialogues des Carmélites, even more remarkable. Although widely known as a mere purveyor of endlessly charming and witty music (including some of the most perfectly constructed songs of the entire 20th century), Poulenc also wrote many substantial compositions, of which the three-act Carmélites ranks highest. Based on Georges Bernanos's story about young Blanche, a selfless nun martyred along with the rest of her convent during the French Revolution, Carmélites, thanks to its composer's considerable musical and dramatic skills, is one of the most emotionally direct and unapologetically moral of all modern operas.

For this 1999 production at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, France, actress-turned-director Marthe Keller does a superlative job of conveying Poulenc's intentions. Her spare staging effectively evokes the austere world of the cloistered nuns, and there are many striking images, notably the opera's final tragic moments when the women literally drop, one by one, to the musical sound of the guillotine's blade. In a first-rate cast, Anne Sophie Schmidt is an especially touching Blanche, and conductor Jan Latham-Koenig has masterly control over the emotional ebb and flow of Poulenc's score. The DVD sound is full and rich, the subtitles are adequate, and Don Kent's video direction includes visual felicities--like slow-motion, still images, and black and white--that underscore the preordained doom without overdoing it. --Kevin Filipski

From the Back Cover

On Janurary 17, 1999, the Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg staged the premiere of a production of Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites on the occasion of the French composer's 100th birthday. In Summer 1999, the production was also performed at the Finnish opera festival in Savonlinna. The French theater and film actress Marthe Keller was the director, the stage set was created by Jean-Pierre Capeyron, and Florence Emir created the costumes. The press lauded the Strasbourg production, which corresponded closely with Poulenc's intentions and expressed the entire originality and spiritual message of his opera score; it also focused on the conducting of Jan Latham-Koenig, an outstanding connoisseur of French music, and the superb achievement of Anne-Sophie Schmidt in the title role.

Le marquis de la Force - Didier Henry
Blanche de la Force - Anne Sophie Schmidt
Le Chevalier de la Force - Laurence Dale
Madame de Croissy - Nadine Denize
Madame Lidoine - Valerie Millot

Orchestre Philmarmonique de Strasbourg
Choers de L'Opera national du Rhin
Conductor - Jan Latham-Koenig

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and very moving, June 19, 2001

By 

Dean Rishel (Eastampton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Francis Poulenc: L'Opéra National du Rhin (DVD)

I must state from the git-go that I love this opera, and that this is a very good performance. There are many of us who cut their teeth on the Metropolitan Opera production some years ago, and while this doesn't match it's emotional impact, it is still a jewel - just a little different. I think it may have been a mistake to cast Anne-Sophie Schmidt as Blanche. She sings well, but sounds very mezzo-ish and a bit strained in many of the higher passages. She's a pretty good actress, but seems to struggle more with the notes than with her faith. And she can't begin the portray the slightly "unhinged" component in Blanche's personality that Maria Ewing did so memorably at the Metropolitan. The rest of the cast is very strong, visuals are never less than commanding, and the final scene, while a bit stagey and symbolic, is quite gripping. Poulencs' gem of an opera is an acquired taste, I think, but well worth the acquisition. I advise you to buy this and watch (and listen) about 4-5 times - you'll be hooked. Now if only the Metropolitan (M. Ewing, J. Norman, R. Crespin) would release its performance on DVD !!!

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent performance, terrific cast, June 5, 2001

By 

Michael K. Halloran - See all my reviews

This review is from: Francis Poulenc: L'Opéra National du Rhin (DVD)

Apparently the reviewers below had no prior exposure to this work before viewing the DVD in question. That can be a handicap when coming to a work such as "Carmelites." Perhaps I am a bit better equipped to judge, as this is one of my favourite operas of all time.

This is a truly excellent performance, recorded in 1999 at the Opera National du Rhin. Aside from a small spoken scene in Act Three where Blanche learns of the arrest of the sisters, the performance is complete.

The cast is uniformly excellent, but particular mention must be made of Anne-Sophie Schmidt's highly moving Blanche and Nadine Denize's haunting old Prioress with a riveting death scene. Additionally, Patricia Petibon is a charming Constance and Hedwig Fassbender a sympathetic Mere Marie.

The sets and costumes are simple and evocative without getting in the way of the action, and although I'd quibble with the staging of the final climactic scene, everything else that is done is done extremely well.

In short, if you want a DVD version of "Dialogues of the Carmelites," I really can't see this fine edition being bettered anytime soon.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very moving performance, effectively adapted to video, May 26, 2007

By 

R. Gregory Capaldini (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Francis Poulenc: L'Opéra National du Rhin (DVD)

I was given this DVD by someone who knows I'm a Carmelite-ophile (see my review of the Chandos CD Poulenc: The Carmelites). As is often the case, the stage production yielding this video succeeds by being visually minimalistic. Better yet, director Marthe Keller -- yes, the elegant European actress who's been working steadily for four decades now -- gives us something way better to look at than scenery: Opera singers who really act! For brevity I'll only cite two scenes, Madame Lidoine's (the New Prioress's) speeches in Acts II and III. In the earlier one, the nuns appear to listen very intently, quite in contrast to some productions where they appear to be marking time until the serene Ave Maria chorus. During the latter monologue, the nuns not only take their Mother Superior's words to heart, but also devise a simple but striking final act of defiance against their anti-clerical persecutors.

Anne Sophie Schmidt is superb as the protagonist Blanche, not surprising since her other Poulenc opera video, La Voix Humaine (on Kultur), shows her to have a deep understanding of this composer. There are several other fine performances here, but the real "It" Girl in this show is Patricia Petibon. Her interpretation of the young Sister Constance is right on the money, and the camera truly loves her. Daringly, Keller asks her and the other 14 members of the nuns' chorus to take the stage alone for the opera's brutal finale -- and to stay there! I won't reveal how they represent dying onstage, except to say that it's resourcefully foreshadowed by the Old Prioress's final facial expression in her Act I death scene. Finally, special mention for adapting Keller's stage direction for DVD goes to Don Kent, for whom www.IMDb.com asserts that this was a first major TV adaptation of an opera performance. I see that over the years he's been engaged to do several more, which comes as no surprise after seeing this impeccable video.