Incredibly stylish and visually ravishing -- arguably to a fault -- Jean-Jacques Beineixís audacious debut has aged well.
Comment
10/31/07
Diva (1981)
95
%
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... [More]
Starring: Fredric Andrei, Wilhelmenia Wiggins, Richard Bohringer, Thuy An Luu
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Reviews for Diva
Top CriticWith its classic clash of style and content, this is very much a key film in the French 'cinema du look' genre.
10/31/07
Top CriticThe 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.
01/26/06
Top CriticA witty, playful intelligent film as enjoyable as it is influential.
04/17/01
Top CriticNo review available.
10/18/08
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10/18/08
The movie’s a maelstrom of possibilities touching ethnic relations, high art, fashion and modern morality, not to mention cinema.
10/18/08
Director Jean Jacques-Beineix's pop art pastiche is a glittering mix of artifice and genuine cool with its intricate yet effortless thriller plot enacted by some of the screen's most individual and eccentric characters; its combination of playful sexiness
05/22/08
Jean-Jacques Beniex's bold experiment is worth a place of importance in cinematic history.
03/22/08
...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.
02/23/08
As with so many pop moments a quarter-century on, what once looked sexy now smells a little sexist.
02/22/08
Diva, as a lifestyle, a fantasy, a model for alienation and solipsism and eccentricity, has gone deep into all of us.
01/24/08
An elaborate, subtitled exercise in blowing hot air.
01/18/08
--- a drama/thriller that is also quite funny ---this is the first film in which I truly realized the importance of cinematography.
01/14/08
The chase through the Paris Metro tunnels is as fascinating as anything put on celluloid.
01/14/08
Had Wile E. Coyote chased Jean-Luc Godard, the result might have been Diva.
01/11/08
A light-headed, fleet-footed French caper, Jean-Jacques Beineix's ultra-stylish Diva stormed the art houses when it was released in 1982, and it's still a lot of fun now -- though its hip patina feels more quaint these days than cool.
01/10/08
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.
01/10/08
... Beineix directs with a visual cleverness and a witty playfulness that tells the audience to hang back and have fun.
12/29/07
One of the most exciting feature debuts, Beineix's film is a rare work, generic yet personal, arty and commercial, an exquisitely shot and edited picture that reminds us why we fell in love with movies in the first place.
12/25/07
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