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During the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, a small band of Carmelite nuns struggle to hold on to their faith amid the growing chaos and the ever-present threat of the guillotine. Some stand fast, some falter; all must finally make a harrowing decision.

A beautiful production of one of the best operas of the 20th century

Moving opera based on historical incident

This opera is based on an actual event in the French Revolution, the daily life of a Carmelite convent in the very last days of the Reign of Terror. Blanche de la Force, a cringing young French aristocrat of the 1780&#39;s is the central figure, a woman prone to excesses of terror. She stuns her brother and widowed father by joining a Carmelite convent near Paris, although the elderly Prioress warns her (seeing through her feeble desire to &quot;live a heroic life&quot;) that the convent is no refuge, but a place where weaknesses will be put to the test. Blanche butts heads with a cheery young novice, Sister Constance, who tactlessly tells Blanche that she believes the two of them will die together (you can imagine how well THAT goes down), and witnesses the harrowing death of the Prioress, who attempts to confess to Blanche her fear of death. The grim Mistress of Novices, Mother Marie, is assigned to mentor Blanche and instill some firmness in her. A new Prioress arrives as outside events speed toward July 14, 1789--and beyond, into the Reign of Terror. The heart of this opera deals with how the various characters deal with this crisis--in fear, false courage, or courage informed by God&#39;s grace. Blanche only finds her personal answer in the last minute of the opera (sorry, I&#39;m not giving it away, see the show for yourselves). As the Carmelite order is very austere, it is appropriate that the visual end of this show is simple in the extreme. Little more than the rooms in which scenes take place (sometimes not even that) are depicted, and that&#39;s all that&#39;s required. Costumes are (for a large part) authentic looking--the thugs were the only exception in their leather trench-coats, which was somewhat jarring. The cast is uniformly excellent both dramatically &amp; musically. Anne-Sophie Schmidt as Blanche enables you to love Blanche, faults and all. When Mother Marie (Hedwig Fassbender) seeks out the defected Blanche to urge her to rejoin her comrades as they face a prison sentence, the older woman&#39;s harsh facade cracks and we see a loving mother figure for the terrified young girl, huddled in the remains of her (guillotined) father&#39;s mansion. Patricia Petibon (as the flighty but kindhearted Constance) has perhaps the most thankless task, playing a sort of Pollyanna set to music. She passes the test with flying colors, as do all her colleagues. But enough words; as I said above, you simply have to see the film yourselves.

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Dialogues des Carmélites

Poulenc&#39;s music may be an acquired taste, but I happen to like it very much and find it a thrill to sing too. Dialogues Des Carmelites is not just one of his best works but also one of the best operas of the 20th century. And this is just a beautiful and very moving production of it. The production in terms of costumes and sets is quite minimalistic but also is very elegant. The staging is always compelling, the Ave Maria chorus is wonderfully serene and I for one did think the staging for the final scene was very well-done. The video directing is unobtrusive and really flatters and clearly loves Patricia Petibon. Poulenc&#39;s music is masterfully crafted, and is done justice by the beautifully blended orchestra and chorus as well as the authoritative conducting. The performances are superb, Ann-Sophie Schmidt&#39;s Blanche is deeply moving and Nadine Denize is a haunting Prioress. The Mere Mere of Hedwig Fassbender is appropriately sympathetic but I found Patricia Petibon to be the star, her Constance is very charming and quite photogenic as well. In conclusion, really beautiful, recommended without any moment of hesitation. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Although I am a fan of musicals I am only so/so on opera. Too much of opera seems to me to be people sing-songing to each other, with someone occasionally saying &quot;pardon me while I do my big aria&quot; and then stepping forward to belt out the equivalent of &quot;There&#39;s No Business Like Show Business.&quot; The irony of course is that I have exactly the same problem with opera as people who don&#39;t like musicals have with musicals. This is not the case with &quot;Dialogue of the Carmelites.&quot; The music is quite beautiful and underlies and develops the story, it does not intrude into it. This opera has deservedly been called one of best operas of the second half of the twentieth century. I would just like to clarify a couple of points about the story. First, the previous reviewer was bothered by the fact that the bad guy wore anachronistic leather coats. However, this refers back to the opening sequences of pictures from Bosnia or elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia. The obvious point was that bullies who persecute others for their religious beliefs were not confined to Revolutionary France. &quot;Possible Spoilers.&quot; Second, in the story we first see the nuns forced from the convent, and shortly thereafter in prison. It looks like the Revolutionary council double crossed the nuns, releasing them only to arrest them again. In in historical event on which the opera is based, the arrest of the ex-nuns occurred a few years after the destruction of the convent, and because the nuns were again living in community. So the arrest of the nun was due to their deliberate actions, not to the treachery of the council. Finally, near the end of the opera we see Mother Mary visit and talk to Blanche, and then she disappears from the story. This again reflects the historical event. Mother Mary happened to be traveling when the other nuns were re-arrested and thus did not share their fate. Fortunately for us this also meant she was able to write the story of the event, which became the basis of the play and the opera.

User reviews

Dialogues des Carmélites

A shattering experience

A beautiful production of one of the best operas of the 20th century

Moving opera based on historical incident

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