Carmen (1984)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I am no opera fan. I first saw this years ago, simply because I was dating someone at the time who enjoyed opera, so we went to a local cinema which was showing it, and I instantly fell in love with it. As others have pointed out, it has it's flaws, but so what? To me it is absolutely gorgeous, and it's plus points more than make up for it's flaws. When I had the opportunity to do so, I bought a VHS tape of it (which I recall was a lot more expensive than your run of the mill VHS tape), and I have it now on DVD (which was a good deal cheaper). I still enjoy watching it now and again.

Julia M-J oozes sexuality. She is the most erotic Carmen I have ever seen at the Met, Statsoper, Covent Garden, La Scala, on TV or in flicks and I go back to the forties. The photography is superb, it gives a sun drenched washed out effect that takes you back in time when all that happens is where you want to be. People have trashed the opening Bullfight background to the overture, I don't agree but then I am not very PC and don't believe in a sanitized blood free world. In the context of a nineteenth century opera it's valid. So listen to a young Domingo and watch Julia Mi-J have her way with him. I wold rate this as an opera movie second only to the Domingo-Richiarelli Otello.

It was a wonderful way to welcome in 2006: TFO presented this classic opera-film for my complete enjoyment. Francesco Rosi made some classic films in Italy (Salvatore Giuliano, The Mattei Affair) and he knows how to mix violence and passion with ravishing music. If Placido Domingo's face doesn't show very much of the emotion that boils below the surface, his voice is sublime. He was the best Don Jose I have ever heard.Julia Migenes would not be called beautiful, but she knows how to portray the sluttish and irresponsible sides of Carmen. You know this woman is not going to achieve lasting happiness because of her volatile, impulsive nature. Ruggero Raimondi as Escamillo shows why he could get women with animal magnetism. The parting of Jose and Carmen outside the arena is wonderfully poignant, a triumph of direction and acting.

I just received the newly-released DVD of Rossi's film, and it is wonderful. The re-mastered sound track, although not 5.1 digital, is a great improvement over the VHS version.Fresh from watching this movie, I feel that opera was meant to be produced on film. The scenery of Andalucia and the atmosphere of the bullring made the movie totally enjoyable.