Diva (1982)

The Age of Commercialism

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Absolutely brilliant

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

The book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is where I found this French film, it had a good sounding title and was rated well by critics, so I looked forward to what it would offer. Basically in Paris, France, young postman Jules (Frédéric Andréi) lives a bohemian lifestyle, and he has a small circle of friends, but more than anything he is a great fan of opera, especially the beautiful, celebrated and exceptional American opera singer Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez). Cynthia has never had her voice or performances recorded, and refuses to do so, Jules attends her latest performance, and being obsessive secretly and illegally records it on cassette tape, he also steals the gown she wore from her dressing room. One night Jules is travelling on his moped, prostitute Nadia Kalonsky (Chantal Deruaz) drops another tape into his bag, it contains the prostitute's testimony about high-ranking police Inspector Jean Saporta (Jacques Fabbri), as the boss of various rackets, she is murdered after the drop. Jules is now in danger from Taiwanese gangsters seeking the Hawkins tape, and from Saporta's enforcers who want the testimony, inadvertently tangled in a conspiracy of murder he finds refuge with his new friends, mysterious bohemian Serge Gorodish (Richard Bohringer) and his muse young Vietnamese-French woman Alba (Thuy An Luu). Feeling guilty, Jules returns Hawkins's dress, she is initially angry, but does forgive him and is intrigued by his adoration of her, they form a kind of romantic relationship, she meanwhile is being blackmailed by the Taiwanese into recording for them, claiming they have a copy of her performance. Saporta sends his henchmen to take care of Jules and the testimony tape, there is a chase through the PArisian subways, Jules is rescued by Gorodish, but he is almost killed by Saporta himself when returning home, but Gorodish saves him again and forces Saporta to fall down an elevator shaft. In the end Jules plays the tape of Cynthia's performance for her, she is nervous as she has never heard herself sing, and all the crime gangster and corruption stuff seems to disappear and things settle. Also starring Roland Bertin as Simon Weinstadt, Gérard Darmon as Spic, Dominique Pinon as Le Curé, Jean-Jacques Moreau as Krantz and Patrick Floersheim as Zatopek. It is a simple story, a bootlegged recording tape and a tape containing incriminating evidence getting mixed up, and the innocent bystander caught in the middle, it does get a bit in experimentation of style, but it has great camera-work and imagery throughout, and the operatic music is always a joy to listen to, all in all it is a compelling cult crime drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!

Jules is a moped riding postman obsessed with opera singer Cynthia Hawkins. He secretly records her concert performance and steals her gown from the dressing room. He befriends Vietnamese girl Alba who shoplifts records. Outside a train station, he runs into a disheveled girl on the run from a couple of man claiming to be cops. They end up being dirty cops who kill her but she leaves a tape recording of evidence in Jules' mailbag. The cops come looking for the tape and trashes his place. He decides to hide out at Alba and Serge Gorodish's place. He returns the gown to Hawkins and she is fascinated by her stalker. Somehow a bootleg of her concert has gone to Taiwan and Hawkins is threatened with its release unless she signs a contract.This movie has lots of style. It is great to have so many interesting ideas and visuals being attempted. However I don't like the convoluted unengaging story and the bland lead Frédéric Andréi. There is possibly a great action thriller here but the story is too complicated to be thrilling. I liked the movie up to when he meets up with Hawkins. I want him more of a stalker vibe which is lost when he becomes her friend. Also I rather have the opera being the background more than in the foreground. It's got some interesting stuff but the lead doesn't have enough charisma.

The first time I saw "Diva" I hated it so much I walked out with only 10 minutes to go because I didn't want to waste another minute of my life. I saw it again last night, years later, and for the life of me couldn't figure out why I had hated it so much."Diva" is a very stylish, very esoteric, very "French" film. So if any of those descriptions scare you, you might end up hating it. On the flip side, beware if you're a hardcore art film fan, because this movie is also a straightforward crime/action flick. So if the phrase "action flick" makes you cringe, you might end up hating it also. In other words, "Diva" straddles the worlds of Godard ("Contempt") and Michael Bay ("The Transformers"). And it has the potential to offend anyone who hates either extreme.The plot, based on the 1979 novel "Diva" by Daniel Odier, is about a young moped-riding hero who finds himself in possession of two different tapes, one wanted by criminal gangsters and the other wanted by equally vicious corporate suits. The kid himself is mostly clueless, but he is taken under the wing of a mysterious millionaire who gets involved... sort of a Bruce Wayne without the Bat outfit. The "Diva" in the title is an opera singer who is played and, even more impressively, *sung* by the amazing Wilhelmenia Fernandez who in real life is known for her haunting rendition of "La Wally" as sung in this film. She is the one whose voice ends up on a bootleg tape, which is wanted by the corporate suits, who are chasing our hero, who is also running from gangsters, who want a different tape he has.If the plot sounds tricky, perhaps comical, that's because it is. There are a lot of twists, turns, criss-crosses and surprises to keep you entertained. And while there aren't any outright punchlines and gags, there are some bits of humor and over-the-top characterizations that can only be interpreted as satirical. Example: the grumpy gangster played by the awesome Dominique Pinon whose only lines seem to be: "I hate cops", "I hate Beethoven", "I hate parking decks", and so forth (stick around til the end to find out evidently the 1 thing he likes).But the real reason to enjoy this film is its artistic, stylish presentation. Directed by Jean-Jacques Beneix, this is perhaps his best example of a film style he practically defined in the 80s, known as "cinéma du look". This style is characterized by non-naturalistic, self-conscious aesthetics, notably intense colors and lighting effects. For example, the millionaire's loft is drenched in vivid blues. The city chase scenes seem to have an eery, artificial red/pink hue. And the Diva's rooms are a high-contrast, Kubrickian white.Everyone in this movie is cool. Like too-cool-for-school cool. It glorifies classical music fans, gangsters, hipsters, rich folks, poor folks, Americans, Koreans, French, kleptomaniacs, prostitutes, good guys, bad guys, and everyone except that one poor slob who works at the carnival. Everyone is cool and in control.Add to that the creative camera shots, for example lots of reflections (in the bad guys' sunglasses, or in the hubcap of a car, etc), and there you definitely have "stylish".The music is artistic, but artistic in a very 80s sort of way (almost pop, a little bit cheezy at times but still cool). And of course Wilhelmenia's singing of the operatic piece from "La Wally" is gorgeous, and the film opens with a generous music-only scene where we can truly enjoy it.So, upon my 2nd viewing, I recommend this film. I think the only reason why I hated it at first was because I was comparing it to Beneix's 1986 masterpiece "Betty Blue" (37°2 le matin), which digs much deeper into poetry and character development, while sacrificing the intense plot that "Diva" has.I would compare "Diva" to the more plot-oriented films of Wim Wenders ("Faraway, So Close", "Until the End of the World", "End of Violence") and Ridley Scott of the 80s ("Black Rain", "Someone to Watch Over Me" ...incidentally Wilhelmenia Fernandez was also on the soundtrack of that one, singing "La Wally"). With "Diva"'s exaggerated colors and large sets, I might also compare it to the visual style--visuals only--of Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("City of Lost Children", "Amelie"), Tom Tykwer ("Winter Sleepers", "Run Lola Run") and the talented Japanese filmmaker Hideaki Anno ("Ritual"). There might even be a dash of Kieslowski ("The Double Life of Veronique", "Three Colors"). If you like any of the films or directors I've mentioned, you should give "Diva" a shot. And if you hate it the first time, be sure to try it again a few years later.