10 respected directors each shot a short film with operatic arias as the inspiration (and music). I'll do each one separately:
Nicolas Roeg (dir)--Giuseppe Verdi (music). A story about an assassination attempt in 1931 Vienna. Theresa Russell (Roegs wife) plays a man! Not bad--very beautiful and exotic. Russell is great.
Charles Sturridge--Verdi. No story but there is some haunting black and white imagery that fits perfectly with the music.
Jean-Luc Godard--Jean Baptiste Lully. Horrendous. Pointless, boring, no plot, no nothing. Filled with gratuitous female nudity. The worst!
Julien Temple--Verdi. Buck Henry, Beverly D'Angelo and Anita Morris star in this funny, if obvious, story about a cheating couple. Pretty good.
Bruce Beresford--Erich Korngold. Short, lush and romantic. Very good.
Robert Altman--Jean-Philippe Rameau. Dull. A yawner.
Fran Roddam--Richard Wagner. This has Bridget Fonda in her film debut. Beautifully done love story with a fairly explicit sex scene.
Ken Russell--Giacomo Puccini. Really strange but OK.
Derek Jarman--Gustave Chapentier. Lyrical look at youth and old age. Very sweet.
The last is by Bill Bryden doing "I Pagliacci". He has John Hurt (!) dressed as a clown lip-syncing to Caruso (!!!).
When this came out it almost got an X rating (for the abundant nudity and the sex scene). It was given an R with a strict warning attached saying the R rating would be heavily enforced. After the film bombed that warning disappeared.
The idea isn't bad and 6 out of the 10 segments were worthwhile. Worth seeing even if you don't like opera. Just avoid the Godard segment. I'm giving it an 8.
