Aria

"Aria" as a whole is a pretty underwhelming experience, as most compilation films are. No one segment is very long, so the whole thing is painless to sit through, but I can't really bring myself to recommend it to anyone.

The standout segment for me was Ken Russell's, which depicts a woman hallucinating while on the operating table after a terrible car accident. It helps that the segment is set to "Nessum dorma," one of my favorite opera pieces -- I would find a filmed toaster glorious as long as it was set to that particular piece of music. Franc Roddam's segment is pretty decent, and features Bridget Fonda in her film debut. I liked Jean-Luc Godard's segment, which is set in a gym and features a bunch of body builders completely oblivious of the naked women dancing around them -- perhaps a comment on male narcissism? Robert Altman's segment, which is primarily the reason I wanted to see this movie at all, is utterly forgettable -- the only notable thing about it is that you can tell he was filming "Beyond Therapy" at the same time, as many of the same actors are in both. Nicholas Roeg's segment, which opens the film, is pretty bad, as is Julien Temple's painfully unfunny contribution (though it features a smokin' Beverly D'Angelo), while Bruce Beresford's is just boring. Watch Derek Jarman's segment for a glimpse of a very young and pretty Tilda Swinton.

There's not much to say about films like this. Some portions are better than others; none of them are masterpieces.

Grade: B-

Definitely worth watching.

Ten different directors each present a segment based on their favorite opera aria. You don't need to be an opera lover to watch this film. (Although, of course, if you hate opera, you're really going to have a bad time with this!)

Not surprisingly the segments range from brilliant to only fair. Most of the fuss seems to be over Godard's contribution -- whether you think he's brilliant or pretentious, his segment won't change your mind.

Some of the pieces have a clear narrative; others are more a montage of connected images.

None of the pieces is more than 10 minutes or so; if you're not happy with what's on the screen, wait for the next segment, and think about how much culture you're soaking up.

Keep your eyes open for performances by Buck Henry, Beverly D'Angelo, Elizabeth Hurley, Briget Fonda, Tilda Swinton, and John Hurt. (The Buck Henry segment alone is worth the price of admission).

10 respected directors each shot a short film with operatic arias as the inspiration (and music). I'll do each one separately:

Nicolas Roeg (dir)--Giuseppe Verdi (music). A story about an assassination attempt in 1931 Vienna. Theresa Russell (Roegs wife) plays a man! Not bad--very beautiful and exotic. Russell is great.

Charles Sturridge--Verdi. No story but there is some haunting black and white imagery that fits perfectly with the music.

Jean-Luc Godard--Jean Baptiste Lully. Horrendous. Pointless, boring, no plot, no nothing. Filled with gratuitous female nudity. The worst!

Julien Temple--Verdi. Buck Henry, Beverly D'Angelo and Anita Morris star in this funny, if obvious, story about a cheating couple. Pretty good.

Bruce Beresford--Erich Korngold. Short, lush and romantic. Very good.

Robert Altman--Jean-Philippe Rameau. Dull. A yawner.

Fran Roddam--Richard Wagner. This has Bridget Fonda in her film debut. Beautifully done love story with a fairly explicit sex scene.

Ken Russell--Giacomo Puccini. Really strange but OK.

Derek Jarman--Gustave Chapentier. Lyrical look at youth and old age. Very sweet.

The last is by Bill Bryden doing "I Pagliacci". He has John Hurt (!) dressed as a clown lip-syncing to Caruso (!!!).

When this came out it almost got an X rating (for the abundant nudity and the sex scene). It was given an R with a strict warning attached saying the R rating would be heavily enforced. After the film bombed that warning disappeared.

The idea isn't bad and 6 out of the 10 segments were worthwhile. Worth seeing even if you don't like opera. Just avoid the Godard segment. I'm giving it an 8.

If you like Opera, all the arias will be familiar. The treatments the ten directors give to one aria each, are totally removed from their original context. Nessun Dorma from Turandot becomes the vision of a girl in a near-fatality - gripping imagery culminates in the final VINCERO! of her survival . . .John Hurt lip-synching Vesti la Giubba from I Pagliacci is perhaps the low-point, but the madly bawdy Robert Altmann scene fails too - the rest is a lavish treat! The tragedy of children dying is captured in gritty black and white to the serene melody of Verdi's La Vergine Dell' Angeli, the remarkable outcome of an assasination attempt at a King's life is done brilliantly to the backing of La Sua Parole from A Masked Ball . . . with totally different ending to the one in the Opera! See this, then view it again; you will be amazed and enriched - if you like Opera, that is. If you do not, and have no desire to, then please: go back to the usual fare - this will have very little to offer you - enjoy your Stallone and van Damme.

Guess a few upscale film directors were sitting around sipping their absinthe, grappa, aramangac or jungle juice some night in the 80's during the Cannes or other film festival and one said "Hey, guys let's do a movie where each of us creates a segment around a world class aria." Welllll...it kind of sort of worked. Clearly someone was smart enough to select some of the best recordings of the arias chosen, for example Bjoreling's Nessun Dorma, so if you were blind and lying on the floor just listening to the DVD you got more than your money's worth. Not every director succeeded but more did than not and the flick seems to improve with each viewing over the years. My favorite is the eerily beautiful love duet from Die Todt Statd; okay a young naked Elizabeth Hurley is eye candy but her husband singing to her, his wife's ghost, is incredibly beautiful with the love music second only to Otello and Desdemona's "Gia nella Notte Densa" in all the operatic repertoire. Could the flick been better, sure, what couldn't not have been but it's well worth a view especially of you're in a hyper-romantic mood.