User reviews

I saw all three productions of Peter Brook's La Tragedie de Carmen and loved the way he portrayed Carmen and the besotted Don Jose. My favourite of the 3 is the 1st with Helene Delavault and Howard Hensel. I have a very old VHS tape of this film and would love to find it (and the other 2) on DVD, but unfortunately have been unable to track these down. Such a pity to lose these performances altogether. There are so many more productions of Carmen, but for me Helene Delavault takes Carmen's part magnificently, as do Howard Hensel (his flower song makes you weep), Agnes Host as Micaela and Jake Gardner as Escamillo.

Maybe BBC TV could repeat these for us fans??

Many "stagy" productions come across on screen as little more than aides memoires--referring the viewers back to the 'real' production.

Brook manages to create an intense, even overwhelming cinematic experience from this condensed and almost rarefied production, combining Bizet's music with a balletic performance of the drama. He has tried more than once to make successful film out of great stage productions (Marat/Sade, Mahabharata)--this is by far the greatest success *as film.*