Diva

A wonderful combination of many genres - Action / Drama / Mystery / Romance / Thriller / Music/Art, this tale of two tapes may actually change the way you think about opera.

Wilhelmenia Fernandez as Cynthia Hawkins (Diva) who always refused to be recorded - is a revelation; her voice, a magic mixture of melted pure gold and crystal is a miracle.

There are so much more in this absolutely unique film - just to mention a certain shoplifting technique, or the coolest chase which started in the streets of Paris and ended in the subway's car.

The most fascinating thing for me is that Diva was released about twenty years ago in Moscow, I remember the title - but I never saw it back then. Better later than never.

Highly recommended - 9/10

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.

I've been intrigued by this movie ever since I saw a still from it in one of my father's film magazines from 1982; little did I know that the menacing, short-cropped-haired man with dark shades in that photo was Dominique Pinon who would later become associated with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films. As it turned out, Pinon seems also to have had an almost as healthy working relationship with another French maverick film-maker, Jean-Jacques Beineix. Pinon's grumpy, taciturn, no-nonsense characterization of a hit-man named "Priest" is just one of the considerable pleasures gleaned from this entrancing film.

Anyway, I was happy to confirm that Beineix's famed feature-length directorial debut is every bit as good as its reputation would suggest. I'm no fan of opera, but the repeated lyrical song in the film (and the formidable rendition of it by real-life opera singer Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez) becomes its emotional core. It must be said that DIVA does move at a deliberate pace and the complex plot-line (which at times involves six different people chasing our hero!) needs the viewer's full attention but the film is nevertheless an exciting, funny, romantic and at times magical experience, conducted with a disarming touch of irony and flawless flair by Beineix; apart from featuring a couple of breathtaking chase sequences and a plethora of other thrills, it manages to perfectly capture the drudgery of the life of an obsessive fan who, at first, is content simply to live in the shadow of his "diva", compulsively listening to his pirated recording of a live performance he had attended but, as the film progresses, gets increasingly enmeshed not only in the private life of his idol but also in the sleazy Parisian underworld of drug-dealing, prostitution, hit men and police corruption. As I said before, DIVA delivers not only in the action stakes - including the murder of a barefooted key witness that must surely be a nod to Cloris Leachman's turn in Robert Aldrich's KISS ME DEADLY (1955) - but also deliberates on the perennial battle between the integrity of an artist and the commercial exploitation of art and the illusory star/fan relationship to which us avid film-goers are certainly no strangers.

Two tapes, an opera lover, thugs, and a corrupt official are the center of "Diva," a French film from 1981.

When a woman being chased drops a tape into a mailman's pouch, an opera-loving postman, Jules (Frédéric Andréi), finds himself involved in murder and mayhem.

Jules has recently secretly recorded his opera idol, Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhemina Wiggins Fernandez) in a concert. She has never been recorded and refuses to make any.

Apparently she only sings one aria in this concert, "Ebben! Ne andro lontana" (I will go far away) from La Wally, or at least that's all we hear her sing and all Jules listens to on tape.

Jules becomes a target for men who want the tape the woman put into his mailbag, which incriminates a government official in prostitution. Fortunately, before his place is trashed; he asks a new friend, Alba (Thuy An Luu) to keep the Hawkins recording for him.

Really excellent film with great chase scenes, including an exciting motorcycle chase which even involves the French subway.

The Paris location adds an atmospheric layer.

Fernandez is a stunning diva, and a good actress, but I had some trouble with her vocal production. It's a beautiful voice, but I've heard the La Wally aria sung better. She did a much better job on the Ave Maria and the part of "O patria mia" she sang, which were easier and more lyrically sung.

Highly recommended for the acting, its intricate plot, its dark Parisian streets, and beautiful music.

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.