Diva (1981): Frederic Andrei, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Thuy An Lu, Richard Bohringer, Jacques Fabbri, Chantal Deruaz, Anny Romand, Roland Bertin, Gerard Darmon, Dominique Pinon, Jean Jacques Moreau, Patrick Floersheim, Raymond Aquilon, Eugene Berthier, Gerard Chaillou....Director Jean Jacques Beineix, Screenplay Jean Jacques Beineix Adapted from the novel by Daniel Odier, this 1981-1982 film from French director Jean Jacques Beineix marked a new wave of French cinema for the 1980's. Previous French films in the 1970's were darker and moodier, more pretentious in many ways and a lot more philosophical/intellectually serious in their art-house endeavor. But "Diva" is a combination of art-house, comedy and thriller made up in a colorful fabric of cinematography, nuanced acting, beautiful music and an engaging story. It's "deluxe look" employs many of the "advertisement" gimmicks from popular 1980's French magazines. It's a slow moving movie, so for anyone seeing it for the first time, it should feel as long as any foreign film usually does. The topping on the artsy cake is Italian opera - the constant use of the soprano aria "Ebben N'andro lontano" from Catalani's "La Wally" is forever linked to this movie. The French cultural signature is on this but it's nothing heavy. It does lead up to a climatic finale and has all the ingredients of the typical thriller fiction - detectives trying to locate the bad guy and bring him to justice. There are chases both by car and foot, attempted murder and a murder, and the seedier side of Paris (prostitution, drugs, white slavery, poverty) despite the genuine goodness of the lead characters. It's a movie that seems to want to emulate modern American movies, especially in its touches of comedy and comic relief, and in the attitudes of the characters, who, despite being youth of the 1980's, also seem to be reminders of counterculture from the 1960's and 1970's, free spirited, hippie-intellectuals.
Set in President Mitterand's early 1980's Paris, the film follows what appears to be an episode in the life of a poor, bohemian dreamer and postal worker Jules (Frederic Andrei). His romantic obsession for the African-American opera singer Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Fernandez) leads him to secretly tape record her singing voice at a Paris concert. His intentions are pure. He wants to keep a memento of her and to have access to her beautiful voice from his own home. He also boldly steals one of her expensive gowns (this out of sexual longing, like stealing a woman's panties). But before long, he finds himself involved in a plot involving a murdered prostitute, two police detectives and the head of a drug cartel and prostitution ring. The recording also featured the confession of the prostitute who was murdered, who had sought to expose a corrupt Police Captain who had been operating as prostitution ring from Africa and Paris. This forces Jules to become involved in a sticky situation and he's soon being hunted by both the cops and the baddies, each trying to get that tape that's in his possession. It also calls for the eponymous diva, who has long refused to make recordings, to consider finally recording her voice to save herself.
Among the characters that compose the "good guy" group are Gorodish Richard Bohringer) and his Vietnamese lover Alba (Thuy An Luu) who is a kind of chic "thief" and bohemian girl. Gorodish is a loner, lives in a large but unfurnished loft where he is constantly meditating to low-bass New Age music and thinking of strange things like trying to stop the "ocean waves". Jules is himself an artist and collects (through theft) various objects which he uses for artwork a la Andy Warhol. Strangely enough, it's this strange poor prophet who saves Jules' lives when it's endangered by the Mafia-type men who seek to destroy the tape he made. But even these bad guys (Gerard Darmon and Dominique Pinon) are straight of comedy as Le Cure constantly expresses his hatred of garages, police and everything. The comedy is in the perfectly timed dialogue scenes. This is also a cop movie. Jean and Nadia (Jacques Fabbri and Chantal Deruaz) are a male-female detective duo who are hot on the trail of the men responsible for killing the hooker and eventually discover the police Captain's corrupt alter ego.
Perhaps the most touching aspect of the film is the romance. Jules and Cynthia Hawkins have a connection - opera. Jules is an opera connoisseur and admires Cynthia so much he followed her from Paris to Munich, always on his mini bike/motorcycle/mobilette. He is physically drawn to her but they don't engage in sexual activity, not even after what seems to be a romantic date. Cynthia is a proud black artist (probably modeled after real life 80's divas like Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle) who believes that business ought to work its way around art. She has integrity and refuses to be part of a commercial enterprise and to "sell out". A more romantic and yet restrained and sober relationship on film you'll be hard-pressed to find. I enjoyed this film and highly recommend it to any French culture class. This is one of the early masterpieces of French cinema "du look" from the 1980's.
Set in President Mitterand's early 1980's Paris, the film follows what appears to be an episode in the life of a poor, bohemian dreamer and postal worker Jules (Frederic Andrei). His romantic obsession for the African-American opera singer Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Fernandez) leads him to secretly tape record her singing voice at a Paris concert. His intentions are pure. He wants to keep a memento of her and to have access to her beautiful voice from his own home. He also boldly steals one of her expensive gowns (this out of sexual longing, like stealing a woman's panties). But before long, he finds himself involved in a plot involving a murdered prostitute, two police detectives and the head of a drug cartel and prostitution ring. The recording also featured the confession of the prostitute who was murdered, who had sought to expose a corrupt Police Captain who had been operating as prostitution ring from Africa and Paris. This forces Jules to become involved in a sticky situation and he's soon being hunted by both the cops and the baddies, each trying to get that tape that's in his possession. It also calls for the eponymous diva, who has long refused to make recordings, to consider finally recording her voice to save herself.
Among the characters that compose the "good guy" group are Gorodish Richard Bohringer) and his Vietnamese lover Alba (Thuy An Luu) who is a kind of chic "thief" and bohemian girl. Gorodish is a loner, lives in a large but unfurnished loft where he is constantly meditating to low-bass New Age music and thinking of strange things like trying to stop the "ocean waves". Jules is himself an artist and collects (through theft) various objects which he uses for artwork a la Andy Warhol. Strangely enough, it's this strange poor prophet who saves Jules' lives when it's endangered by the Mafia-type men who seek to destroy the tape he made. But even these bad guys (Gerard Darmon and Dominique Pinon) are straight of comedy as Le Cure constantly expresses his hatred of garages, police and everything. The comedy is in the perfectly timed dialogue scenes. This is also a cop movie. Jean and Nadia (Jacques Fabbri and Chantal Deruaz) are a male-female detective duo who are hot on the trail of the men responsible for killing the hooker and eventually discover the police Captain's corrupt alter ego.
Perhaps the most touching aspect of the film is the romance. Jules and Cynthia Hawkins have a connection - opera. Jules is an opera connoisseur and admires Cynthia so much he followed her from Paris to Munich, always on his mini bike/motorcycle/mobilette. He is physically drawn to her but they don't engage in sexual activity, not even after what seems to be a romantic date. Cynthia is a proud black artist (probably modeled after real life 80's divas like Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle) who believes that business ought to work its way around art. She has integrity and refuses to be part of a commercial enterprise and to "sell out". A more romantic and yet restrained and sober relationship on film you'll be hard-pressed to find. I enjoyed this film and highly recommend it to any French culture class. This is one of the early masterpieces of French cinema "du look" from the 1980's.