Diva

Diva is a movie that seems just as stunning and unique to me today as it did when I first saw it 20 years ago. One of those movies that you will remember forever.

On the surface, it's an exercise in pure style, combining exciting, "hip" visuals with great music (opera as well as some great atmospheric incidental music). But there are hundreds of movies like that. What makes Diva so memorable to me is the way it combines this stylish cinematic eye candy with a suspenseful plot, good acting, a touch of romance and sex, and even a smattering of philosophy (as the title character explains her reasons for not allowing her voice to be recorded, not to mention the immortal bread-buttering scene).

It sounds like a recipe for a boring, highly stylized "European" movie, but this is a film where the excitement never flags for a minute. One of the true gems of 80s cinema. As a friend said "If you wanted to be hip in the 80s, you had to have seen 'Liquid Sky', 'Repo Man' and 'Diva'". But even today, you should see it just because it's a great movie.

Overambition is always risky. Diva is so plot heavy that it almost cracks, but it is delicious and entertaining. As far as genre is concerned, this movie flirts with several, but I think it is safe to label Diva as essentially a neo noir. It is darkly romantic, full of corruption, and photographed in spectacular fashion. The colours are rich and the camera work is exquisite. The movie is almost great but not quite. In an attempt to bring everything together, it has a little climax trouble.

A tape of evidence with exposes the Chief inspector of Paris as crooked ends up in the moped satchel of a mail boy named Jules, who suddenly finds himself being hunted down by goons with guns. But that's not his only problem. Jules has made a secret recording of his favourite opera singer live in concert. This singer has blatantly refused to do any recordings, and when word gets out that such a recording exists, different people are going after it. It is ever more essential that Jules keep it hidden, considering, that he and his singer friend have become intimate friends.

Even though Diva enjoys piling it up by the pound, it does so in a compelling fashion. It is a good balance of bold and slick. There are a few clichés buried beneath the labyrinth plot that a picky person may be drawn to pick out, but I enjoyed Diva for its sense of non- convention. It puts character before character type, and tension above twist.

Cinematography plays an exceptional role in this motion picture, which captures Paris in a far more exuberant way than I am used to seeing (and I've been there). One item about the city which has never appeal to me is that it is very grey, with not enough green. Grey is the last of the colours on Diva's colour pallet (execpt when necessary). This motion picture prefers something a little more romantic or expressive. like a jazzy blue, or a fiery red.

I can easily give Diva a pass, and I can recommend it on numerous grounds. As a non-Hollywood thriller, Diva is exceptional, but it is not a film for the soft minded. It gets a bit too convoluted, not too messy, but there is a sense that it could use a slight reworking. This is not a light motion picture, but it ain't a dull one either.

I saw Diva for the first time as a college student in a film class art theater marathon. I'd just finished the most boring excuse for a movie ever made (no offense to fans of "My Dinner with Andre") and went in to see Diva.

I was floored. The most beautiful example of "disastre deluxe" I've ever seen - everything is so rundown it's gorgeous. The music perfectly matches the whole film. The performances are not "realistic", but they are not meant to be.

This is obviously not a piece of cinema verite and shouldn't be reviewed as such. "Diva" is a 2 hour tour de force of cinema as experience. One of the finest films I've ever seen.

I watched 'Diva' the other day for the first time in at least fifteen years and it really held up. Long regarded as a pivotal 1980s art film, it has influenced many subsequent film makers, in advertising, and music videos. I'd say Ridley Scott was aware of it when he shot 'Blade Runner' and that opens up a whole can of worms. One could argue that 'Diva', though by no means science fiction, was a strong influence on William Gibson and other cyberpunk writers. Director Beineix is probably best know for the erotic classic 'Betty Blue', but this is a much more original and interesting movie. Beineix uses every trick in the book to make this movie visually stunning, but the plot is also strong, concerning the confusion between tapes of an Opera singer who abhors recordings, and evidence which can nail a corrupt cop. A young messenger (Frederic Andrei) gets caught up in this mistake and his life is soon at risk. Along the way he also comes to have an odd relationship with the singer in question (Wilhelmenia Fernandez), as well as a strange art student cum shoplifter (Thuy An Luu). Nothing is straightforward in 'Diva' but it is consistently watchable. Keep an eye out for Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Dominique Pinot as a cool looking punk thug, and also the outstanding motorcycle sequence. A very good movie. Recommended.

Diva was very influential on me as a young college student. Diva represented the archetype of a foreign art film. Sure it was new, strange, and unpredictable as Avante-Garde films tend to be. But it was more than that.

I've seen Diva three times -all in the 1980's. Twenty years later, what I remember most is not the plot and the message, but the rich texture of the film. As a viewer I was submersed in a new and different reality; one that was visually stunning, intriguing, and edgy. The submersion was achieved both visually and with the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack.

The colors man, the colors... Diva included many beautiful shot scenes with intense colors and dramatic lighting. There are several shots the stills of which could be turned into farmable artwork. At the time I was thinking they would make great dorm-room posters.

I think Diva has had a lasting influence on cinematography. You may have noticed that movies, TV shows and especially advertisements have moved to be very color intense. Dramatic lighting showing sharp contrasting hues, are the norm. Diva was the first film I can remember with rich color saturation made intentionally to make this type of artistic impression.

Another movie whose cinematography was likely influenced by Diva is Betty Blue (1986).