Carmen ***½ (1984, Julia Migenes, Plácido Domingo, Ruggero Raimondi) – Classic Movie Review 9835

The tremendous, starry cast means the singing and acting are thoroughly rousing in director Francesco Rosi’s 1984 film of the Georges Bizet opera Carmen, but it is less thrilling and imaginative as cinema than the previous year’s dance reinterpretation by Carlos Saura, Carmen (1983).

Though Julia Migenes-Johnson’s voice may not be ideal, she makes a spirited, quite captivating Carmen, and the film’s surface gleams thanks to Pasqualino de Santis’s immaculate photography and Enrico Job’s production designs.

Plácido Domingo is in splendid tenor voice and quite excellent as the soldier Don José, who falls in unrequited love with beautiful factory worker Carmen, and so is bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi as Escamillo.

For its fans, the whole opera is virtually all here, and, with these authoritative performers, that will be enough. It is filmed on authentic location in Andalucía, Spain. The costumes are designed by production designer Enrico Job.

Georges Bizet’s opera is based on Prosper Mérimée’s novel, with libretto by Henri Meilhac.

Julia Migenes was married to Jervis Johnson at the time. She married director Peter Medak in 1988 (2003 divorced) and appeared as Judy Garland (uncredited) in his film The Krays (1990).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9835

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