A witty, playful intelligent film as enjoyable as it is influential.
Diva (1981)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:40
Fresh:38
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Beineix combines unique cinematography, an intelligent script, and a brilliant soundtrack to make Diva a stylishly memorable film.
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: DIVA is a charming French original that combines intrigue, romance and a delirious soundtrack in a visually stunning and stylish debut from Jean-Jacques Beineix. Frederic Andrei stars as Jules, a... DIVA is a charming French original that combines intrigue, romance and a delirious soundtrack in a visually stunning and stylish debut from Jean-Jacques Beineix. Frederic Andrei stars as Jules, a postal courier obsessed with Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Wiggins) an international opera star who refuses to be recorded, much to the dismay of her adoring public. Jules' passion for the opera diva's angelic soprano leads him to smuggle a recorder into a sold-out Parisian performance to commit her voice to tape. He privately enjoys his recording until he shares his secret with a new friend (Thuy An Luu) and simultaneously finds himself at the center of an international drug and sex scandal and a pirating operation that will do anything to get hold of his precious tape. Suddenly Jules becomes engulfed in scandal and must fight to stay one step ahead of the policemen and high-tech hitmen who are chasing him. Dizzying chase scenes are masterfully shot, culminating in a heart-pounding motorcycle chase through the underground Paris Metro. Jean-Jacques Beineix composes each shot like a still photograph, exploring the visual dichotomy between the high-tech disco aesthetic of 1980s Paris and the classic beauty of Cynthia's opera and the ancient city. The brilliant best-selling soundtrack highlights each stylish frame. DIVA is based on the novel by Delacorta. [More]
Starring: Fredric Andrei, Wilhelmenia Wiggins, Richard Bohringer, Thuy An Luu
Starring: Fredric Andrei, Wilhelmenia Wiggins, Richard Bohringer, Thuy An Luu, Jacques Fabbri, Dominique Pinon, Roland Bertin
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Screenwriter: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Composer: Charles Gounod
Studio: Rialto Pictures
Reviews for Diva
Incredibly stylish and visually ravishing -- arguably to a fault -- Jean-Jacques Beineixís audacious debut has aged well.
With its classic clash of style and content, this is very much a key film in the French 'cinema du look' genre.
The most exciting debut in years, it is unified by the extraordinary decor - colour supplement chic meets pop art surrealism - which creates a world of totally fantastic reality situated four-square in contemporary Paris.
Beineix choreographs the actors and the camera into a stunning and stylish cinematic dance... This is not a musical in the strict sense of the word but it certainly feels like one in the way it moves.
... Beineix directs with a visual cleverness and a witty playfulness that tells the audience to hang back and have fun.
Jean-Jacques Beniex's bold experiment is worth a place of importance in cinematic history.
As with so many pop moments a quarter-century on, what once looked sexy now smells a little sexist.
...back upon its original 1981 release, it was a true 'wow,' a filmic equivalent of the post-punk new wave music scene that was current.
Here is a director taking audacious chances, doing wild and unpredictable things with his camera and actors, just to celebrate moviemaking.
Had Wile E. Coyote chased Jean-Luc Godard, the result might have been Diva.
It's a beautifully layered work that's much more than a showcase for Beineix's talent.
The chase through the Paris Metro tunnels is as fascinating as anything put on celluloid.
--- a drama/thriller that is also quite funny ---this is the first film in which I truly realized the importance of cinematography.
Any film with this much stylistic assurance is impossible to fully resist.
Diva, as a lifestyle, a fantasy, a model for alienation and solipsism and eccentricity, has gone deep into all of us.
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