Sunday, February 23, 2014

Carmen (2013)

Director: Yves Beaunesne                               Composer: Geroges Bizet
Conductor: Philippe Jordan                              Libretto: Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halévy
Starring: Anna Caterina Antonacci, Nikolai Schukoff, Genia Kühmeier and Ludovic Tézier

After seeing the advertisements for live operas at the movie theater for years, I finally had my first chance to experience one this afternoon at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia. I had originally bought my tickets to the performance of Bizet’s Carmen thinking it would be a local production, but was delighted to find it was a filmed version from Paris two years ago. The last time I had seen Carmen was twenty years ago at the Seattle Opera House. That production was set in Spain during the fifties during Franco’s fascist regime, complete with trench coats, fedoras and the ultimate femme fatale. I remember enjoying it immensely, though apparently there was some pushback by the patrons who felt the story was a little too risqué. But that certainly wasn’t the fault of the setting, it’s in the original and the story was just as controversial in 1875 when in premiered. That fifties version, however, is nothing compared to Yves Beaunesne’s 2012 production, set in the seventies after Franco’s death.

The story of Carmen is something right out of film noir. Soldier Don José has decided to marry his girlfriend Micaëla, but the alluring Carmen seems to have her eye on him. When she is arrested for pulling a knife on one of the women in the factory, José succumbs to her charms and lets her go while he is arrested for dereliction of duty. A month later Carmen is delighted to learn of José’s release, and thus when the bullfighter Escamillo sets his sights on Carmen she spurns him. José at last is reunited with Carmen, but when he wants to return to the barracks she taunts him into abandoning the army altogether and participating in the criminal activities of her friends. Inevitably, Carmen becomes bored with José, but when Micaëla comes to get him he is so blind with jealousy over Escamillo’s declaration of love for Carmen that he doesn’t want to go. When she tells him his mother is dying, however, he reluctantly leaves. Then José shows up at the bullfight to win back his obsession, but Carmen utterly dismisses him and tragedy ensues.

One of the biggest knocks against the production when it premiered two years ago was the costuming. When one thinks of altering the setting of an opera the hope is that it will be with the idea of enhancing the public’s enjoyment of the music, something most of them are already familiar with. The problem with the “disco” version of Carmen staged by Yves Beaunesne is that the updated setting becomes a distraction. And it’s not even the setting, per se. The actual sets look like they could have been anytime from the original eighteen twenties version right on up to the nineteen thirties. Given that, then, the go-go boots and leisure suits are so incongruous that they literally are a distraction. Carmen wears a blonde Marilyn Monroe wig and black sequined dress while José in his army uniform looks normal. Add to that the six foot four transvestite prancing around with exposed plastic breasts and that part of the opera is very disappointing.

The one indisputable high point, however, is the music. Conductor Philippe Jordan and the Orchestra of the National Opera of Paris were both outstanding. The principal leads were less so. Anna Caterina Antonacci as Carmen did a solid job, but little more. The blonde wig only accentuated her age, fifty at the time, and that tended to diminish the up close shots in the film. Her voice was good, but the real star vocally was Genia Kühmeier as Micaëla. She lit up the stage with her singing and received by far the biggest ovation at the close of the performance. Likewise, tenor Nikolai Schukoff was solid as Don José but he paled in comparison to Alexandre Duhame who, in a small role as a corporal in the first act, was missed sorely by his absence the rest of the performance. Baritone Ludovic Tézier as the toreador Escamillo was the other solid performer, though he looked like fat Elvis in his white leisure suit in the second act. In all, filmed opera is a terrific experience. Being able to see Carmen at the Paris Opera “live” without going there was a real treat and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Monday, February 17, 2014

The World at War (1973-74)

Directors: Hugh Raggett & John Pett              Writers: Neal Ascherson & Peter Blatty
Music Score: Carl Davis                                Cinematography: Peter Lang
Narration: Laurence Olivier                             Editing: Beryl Wilkins & Alan Afriat

One of the most haunting melodies ever written was by composer Carl Davis for the BBC series The World at War. The music was made even more dramatic by the opening montage of black and white images of faces associated with the war that burned and blistered into each other as the flames rose in front of them. Forty years after its first airing it is still the best documentary series on World War II ever produced. Likely it always will be. Even Ken Burns wound up bottoming out when he reached World War II and his series The War wound up being one of his least successful. Whatever technical advances in film and documentary work that have taken place since, most of the people who were in the war are now gone. The thing that makes this such a riveting piece of work is the interviews with people like Abert Speer and Kay Summersby and the immediacy that they bring. In addition a host of other lesser subjects, both military and civilian, take part in bringing the history alive.

Another aspect that is missed so greatly in recent documentaries is the gravity with which the material is presented. To a large degree the credit for that must go to the narrator of the series, Laurence Olivier. He has exactly the right tone, both grave and ironic at times, but always with a sense of the reverence for the material. The writing is also incredibly good because it’s not compelled to fill every empty space. This is a visual medium and most of the time the images speak for themselves. And the directors of the series do a nice job of letting them. The other problem with covering World War II is deciding how much to cover. With two major theaters of war and a half dozen other minor theaters it is vastly complex and takes place over a six-year period--even more when attempting to explain the events leading up to the war. The producers wisely chose a geographical approach.

After an opening episode looking at the beginnings, there are shows that look at each of the major countries as they enter the war. France is first, the victim of Blitzkrieg and suddenly out of the war. Britain is focused on prior to America’s entry and how they were left to fight the Germans alone. There are episodes on Barbarosa, Hitler’s invasion of Russia, the Japanese threat in Asia, U.S. isolationism, and the African campaign. Episodes on Russia, Nazi Germany, Japan, D-Day, The Holocaust, and the Atomic bomb followed the next year. In addition to the episodes that aired in the seventies, several shorter episodes have been put together with existing footage on Hitler’s secretary (a great German film that features her is called Downfall with Bruno Ganz), the soldiers who fought on all sides, two expanded episodes on Nazi Germany as well as two on The Holocaust and the end of the war. The World at War is still the best series ever produced on World War II, and arguably one of the greatest documentaries of all time, regardless of subject.