****
DVD Release
When young postman Jules makes a
bootleg recording of his favourite opera singer, he has no idea of the
dangerous world he is about to enter. Set in Paris, Diva depicts two intertwining stories involving cassette tapes,
dotted with a variety of complex characters.
It is hard to discuss Diva without giving too much away
because it is a thriller and has a few twists along the way. Firstly, then, we
shall tackle the appearance of the film; all the colours are very vivid,
particularly blue which is used throughout the movie and seems to depict high
art. The director, Beineix, started out in advertising and that is very evident
here – there are lots of elongated shots of elaborate objects with emotive
music placed over the top, making them kinds of ‘designer’ pieces that the
audience will desire. The interior set-pieces are also interesting – we see
inside several different flats, a lighthouse and one industrial space wherein
the character Gorodish demonstrates his artistic powers. Each internal space
mirrors the character who inhabits it, making the film feel more of a visual
experience than others may do. Music is also used cleverly – at the start of
the film we hear the full version of the song that Cynthia Hawkins, the
eponymous ‘Diva’, sings and Jules records, and this song is then repeated
throughout, although in a fractured form. This repetition of the track
throughout the film helps fill the gaps where there is little speech and Jules’
analysis of the song helps us to understand the film overall.
There are a large number of
characters in Diva and yet I felt as
though I knew all of them well enough to engage with their story and plight. Frédéric Andréi is excellent as the naïve Jules, and carries the
first section of the film very well, with the camera lingering on his face for
long periods. Richard Bohringer is similarly good as the artist Gorodish – he says
relatively little for the first few scenes, but he is still an engaging
presence. These two actors lead the field, with Wilhelmina Fernandez and Thuy
An Luu providing supporting female roles as Cynthia Hawkins and Alba
respectively.
There are some moments that feel
a little out of place, such as two moments of rather extreme violence, and for
the first twenty minutes or so I found myself struggling to be immersed in the
film. Similarly, I felt that the director didn’t know which genre to lean
towards at times, but overall this is a pretty enjoyable and visually interesting
movie.
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