Movie/Blu-ray Review: 'Carmen' (1984)

Carmen (1984)

Based On: Carmen, an 1875 opera by Georges Bizet. Libretto by Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halévy based on Carmen, a novella by Prosper Mérimée

Adapted by: Francesco Rosi and Tonino Guerra

Directed by: Francesco Rosi

Starring; Placido Domingo, Julia Migenes-Johnson, Ruggero Raimondi, Faith Esham, John-Paul Bogart, Susan Daniel

Theatrical release poster for Carmen. © 1984 Gaumont and Opera Film Produzione

On September 20, 1984, six months and six days after its premiere in France, U.S. audiences first saw director Francesco Rosi's adaptation of Carmen, the classic opera by Georges Bizet, Henri Meilhac, and Ludovic Halévy (which was based on the eponymous novel by Prosper Mérimée). Starring Placido Domingo as Don Jose and Julia Migenes-Johnson as Carmen, the film is, as the late Roger Ebert wrote in his contemporary review, "the Raiders of the Lost Ark of opera films."

Filmed entirely in Andalusia, Spain and set in 1875-era Sevilla (Seville), Carmen is an "opera comique" about a spirited and sultry Gipsy named Carmen (Julia Migenes-Johnson) who seduces a naive corporal in the Spanish Army, Don Jose (Placido Domingo), with dire consequences for them both.

Although Bizet and his librettists only focused on a section of Prosper Mérimée's 1845 novella, the opera features a universal story of passion, jealousy, and love-gone-wrong mixed with for what was, in the 1870s, unusual realism. Instead of telling a Wagnerian tale of gods and demigods, Bizet and his writers spin a seriocomic tapestry that features cigarette factory workers, bored Spanish army soldiers, roughnecked criminals, and ordinary Seville residents. The most glamorous character in Carmen is Escamillo (Ruggero Raimondi), a top-notch toreador who is also Don Jose's rival in a contest for Carmen's favor.

Adapted by Francesco Rosi (Cadaveri eccelenti) and Tonino Guerra (Kaos), Carmen features beautiful in situ cinematography by Pasqualino De Santis and elegant production design by Enrico Job. Adding to the charm of the Spanish-themed-and-set tale are the period costumes designed by Job and the art team headed by Gianni Giovagnoni and Pierre Thévenet, who, per the director's wishes, based the look of the film on Gustave Dorér's illustrations for Charles Davillier's 1873 book, Spain, which may have inspired Bizet when he composed Carmen.

It goes without saying, though, that what makes Rosi's Carmen a true joy to behold is Bizet's music, which is performed by the cast and backed by the Orchestre National de France, conducted by Lorin Maazel. The score, which is sung in French (with English subtitles), is chock-full of memorable songs, which are listed below:

Act 1

1. Prelude (orchestra)
2. Sur la place chacun passe (Chorus of soldiers, Moralès, Micaëla)
3. Avec la garde montante (Chorus of urchins, Zuniga)
4. La cloche a sonné (Chorus of citizens, soldiers, cigarette girls)
5. Habanera: L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Carmen, chorus as above)
6. Carmen! Sur tes pas nous pressons! (Chorus of citizens and cigarette girls)
7. Parle-moi de ma mère (José, Micaëla)
8. Que se passe-t-il là-bas? Au secours! Au secours! (Chorus of cigarette girls, soldiers, Zuniga)
9. Tra-la-la...Coupe-moi, brûle-moi (Carmen, Zuniga, cigarette girls, José)
10. Seguidilla: Près des remparts de Séville (Carmen, José)
11. Finale: Voici l'ordre; partez (Zuniga, Carmen)

Act 2

1. Les tringles des sistres tintaient (Carmen, Mercédès, Frasquita)
2. Vivat! Vivat le torero! (Chorus of Escamillo's followers, Zuniga, Mercédès, Frasquita, Moralès, Lillas Pastia)
3. Toreador Song: Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre (Escamillo, Frasquita, Mercédès, Carmen, Moralès, Zuniga, Lillas Pastia, chorus)
4. Quintette: Nous avons en tête une affaire! (Le Dancaire, le Remendado, Carmen, Frasquita, Mercédès)
5. Halte-là! Qui va là? (José, Carmen, Mercédès, Frasquita, le Dancaire, le Remendado)
6. Je vais danser en votre honneur...La fleur que tu m'avais jetée...Non! Tu ne m'aimes pas! (Carmen, José)
7. Finale: Holà! Carmen! Holà! (Zuniga, José, Carmen, le Dancaire, le Remendado, Mercédès, Frasquita, chorus)

Act 3

1. Écoute, compagnon, écoute (Chorus of smugglers, Mercédès, Frasquita, Carmen, José, le Dancaire, le Remendado)
2. Mêlons! – Coupons! (Frasquita, Mercédès, Carmen)
3. Quant au douanier, c'est notre affaire (Frasquita, Mercédès, Carmen, le Dancaire, le Remendado, chorus)
4. C'est les contrabandiers le refuge ordinaire (Micaëla)
5. Je suis Escamillo, torero de Grenade! (Escamillo, José)
6. Finale: Holà holà José! (Carmen, Escamillo, Micaëla, Frasquita, Mercédès, le Dancaire, José, le Remendado, chorus)

Act 4

1. A deux cuartos! (Chorus of citizens, Zuniga, Moralès, Frasquita, Mercédès)
2. Les voici, voici la quadrille ... Si tu m'aimes, Carmen (Chorus of citizens, children, Escamillo, Carmen, Frasquita, Mercédès)
3. Finale: C'est toi! – C'est moi! (Carmen, José, chorus)

My Take

I first heard about Rosi's Carmen when I was a college freshman in 1985. I was taking a humanities class with Prof. Jay Brown at the time, and late in the semester, when we got to the Romantic period of art history, he asked if anyone in the class had seen Carmen during its theatrical run the previous autumn. Unsurprisingly, no one said "Yes." 

"That's too bad, ladies and gentlemen, because you missed out on a chance to see the world's most popular opera." 

For some reason, that comment resonated with me, and it stuck in my brain for a long time. I remembered Prof. Brown's words when I watched a performance of Bizet's opera sometime later on Miami's PBS station, WPBT - Channel Two, and when I went to Seville in the fall of 1988 as a participant in the College Consortium for International Studies' Semester in Spain program. 

To be honest, I'm not what you would consider an opera aficionado. I prefer symphonies, concertos, orchestral suites, and overtures to performances by singers (except, of course, for Broadway musicals). I am not sure why that is, although I suspect that like most of my fellow Americans, I simply have not been exposed to it as much as, say, people in France, Italy, Spain, or Germany. 

Nevertheless, I fell in love with Carmen ever since I saw that PBS performance in the 1980s, especially knowing that it was set in Seville. But it wasn't until recently that I decided to add Francesco Rosi's adaptation, which was filmed in Ronda, Carmona, and parts of Seville proper, to my collection of films on Blu-ray. 

Say what you will about Placido Domingo, but he and soprano Julia Migenes (here billed as Julia Migenes-Johnson) exhibit real chemistry as the pair of star-crossed lovers. Yes, Domingo looks a bit older than your ordinary Spanish Army corporal, so you really have to suspend your disbelief as you watch him be beguiled, then spurned, by the fickle and hotblooded Carmen. As Don Jose, Domingo is riveting as a guy who gives up the love of the adoring Micaela (Faith Esham) and ignores his dying mother's wishes, as well as his career in the army, all for the fleeting favor of the sultry Gipsy woman. 

As for Migenes, I'll quote from Pauline Kael's comments in her book, State of the Art: Film Writings, 1983-1985:

Julia Migenes-Johnson's freckled, gamine Carmen is the chief glory of the production. Her strutting, her dark, messy, frizzy hair—her sexual availability—attract Don José and drive him crazy. Carmen, who's true to her instincts, represents everything he tries to repress. But after he has deserted the Army and lost the respectability that meant everything to him, he thinks she owes him lifelong devotion. Carmen's mistake was in thinking she could take him as a lover on her own terms.

 Although the movie has a running time of two hours and 32 minutes, the music, the gorgeous Spanish vistas, and the wonderful performances by Domingo, Migenes, Raimondi, Esham, and the rest of the international ensemble make Carmen such a delight for the eyes, ears, and heart that the time flies quickly. Rosi understands the power of Bizet's score and arias perfectly, and he is so faithful to the composer's concepts for the "opera comique" that he restores the bits of spoken language Bizet included in the work to add to the realism of the story. They were deleted by other composers/arrangers after Bizet's sudden death 33 performances into Carmen's 1875 run in the belief that the realism would upset audiences of the time, and they were reworked as songs with music.

The one quibble I have with Rosi's film is that it opens with a bullfight in which we see a real bull being killed before Bizet's Prelude brings us into the opera itself. I've watched it twice since I bought the Blu-ray a few weeks ago without hitting the fast-forward button on my remote, but it is not a scene I like to watch. So if you are squeamish about bullfights, you have been warned.

The Blu-ray by Olive Films is fine as far as the visuals and sound are concerned, but it is a fairly barebones offering that just has the feature film but no extras such as a "making of" featurette or commentaries of any kind. I suppose that the manufacturer didn't think those extras were necessary, but I would have loved to have at least a couple of featurettes, one about the film, and one on the opera and the history behind it.

These complaints are minor, all things being equal, and they pale in comparison to the brilliance of the film itself. I especially liked the fact that this Carmen does not have a "shot on a sound stage" look, plus the on-location shots take me back to my three-months long stay in Seville, although the only thing that was really familiar to me was a shot - from a distance, of the iconic bell tower known as La Giralda. So I give Carmen a wholehearted "Bravo! Brava!" and give it a "you must see this" recommendation.

Sources:

Roger Ebert review of Carmen at www.rogerebert.com

Pauline Kael, State of the Art: Film Writings, 1983-1985