Review of The Moon and the Stars

I recently saw this at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival and director John Irvin was there to introduce the film. Irvin is a versatile director of drama, comedy, romance and action and has directed such films as Widow's Peak, Dogs of War, A Month by the Lake and the charming comedy The Boys from Clare County. This is the story of a wealthy gay and Jewish film producer (Alfred Molina) who is making a film based on Puccini's opera Tosca. A famous German diva (Catherine McCormack) is cast opposite a difficult English actor (Jonathyn Pryce) as filming gets under way on a famous sound stage in Rome as World War II in 1939 escalates around them threatening the film's completion. Good supporting performances from András Báalint, Niccolo Senni and Joana Scanlan. Veteran Hungarian cinematographer Elemér Ragályi does a good job here and the production value of production design, set decoration and costume design is top notch. The script and story fall a little short though with no on screen chemistry between Pryce and McCormick. It's worth a look and I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.