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Movies / On DVD / Diva
Diva

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Diva (1981)

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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

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Diva

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato
5/5

Incredibly stylish and visually ravishing -- arguably to a fault -- Jean-Jacques Beineixís audacious debut has aged well.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 31 2007 11:54 AM

Empire Magazine

tomato
4/5

With its classic clash of style and content, this is very much a key film in the French 'cinema du look' genre.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 31 2007 11:50 AM

Channel 4 Film

tomato

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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 26 2006 03:16 AM

Time Out

tomato
4/5

David Wood

A witty, playful intelligent film as enjoyable as it is influential.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 17 2001 11:57 PM

BBC

tomato
4/5

Cole Smithey

No review available.

comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 11:36 PM

ColeSmithey.com

N/R

Jean Lowerison

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 04:44 AM

San Diego Metropolitan

tomato
3.5/4

Sid Smith

The movie’s a maelstrom of possibilities touching ethnic relations, high art, fashion and modern morality, not to mention cinema.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 04:44 AM

Chicago Tribune

tomato

Richard Knight

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 22 2008 05:54 PM

Windy City Times

tomato

Beverly Berning

Jean-Jacques Beniex's bold experiment is worth a place of importance in cinematic history.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 22 2008 11:12 PM

culturevulture.net

tomato
B+

Laura Clifford

...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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 23 2008 11:31 AM

Reeling Reviews

splat
2.5/4

Ty Burr

As with so many pop moments a quarter-century on, what once looked sexy now smells a little sexist.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 22 2008 01:54 PM

Boston Globe

tomato

Philip Kennicott

Diva, as a lifestyle, a fantasy, a model for alienation and solipsism and eccentricity, has gone deep into all of us.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 24 2008 11:59 AM

Washington Post

splat
3/6

David Fear

An elaborate, subtitled exercise in blowing hot air.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 18 2008 03:15 AM

Time Out New York

tomato

Jeanne Kaplan

--- a drama/thriller that is also quite funny ---this is the first film in which I truly realized the importance of cinematography.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 14 2008 01:27 PM

Kaplan vs. Kaplan

tomato

David Kaplan

The chase through the Paris Metro tunnels is as fascinating as anything put on celluloid.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 14 2008 01:24 PM

Kaplan vs. Kaplan

tomato
3/4

David Elliott

Had Wile E. Coyote chased Jean-Luc Godard, the result might have been Diva.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 11 2008 12:35 PM

San Diego Union-Tribune

tomato
3/4

Steven Rea

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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 10 2008 04:53 PM

Philadelphia Inquirer

tomato

Beth Accomando

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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 10 2008 05:55 AM

KPBS.org

tomato

Sean Axmaker

... Beineix directs with a visual cleverness and a witty playfulness that tells the audience to hang back and have fun.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 29 2007 11:37 AM

Turner Classic Movies Online

tomato
A

Emanuel Levy

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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 25 2007 10:23 AM

EmanuelLevy.Com

 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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