Farinelli
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Features
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• DVD-Video
• Full Screen
• Subtitled
• Widescreen
• NTSC
In Theaters : 17 March, 1995
DVD Release : 22 August, 2000 |
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Farinelli description
This interesting Belgian film from 1994 has a surface subject that might make a few guys wince: an 18th-century castrato, or castrated male opera singer. A superstar in Europe, Farinelli the vocalist--despite compromised equipment--gets his share of groupies and is showered with attention and gifts from rich patrons. Meanwhile, his brother--a so-so composer whose career and fortunes are inextricably linked to his sibling, as per their father's wishes--feels like a sham for enjoying the fruits of another's success. For director Gérard Corbiau, the real story is that of the forced bond between the two men, and their unspoken awareness that their separate destinies have been slowed by the arrangement. Corbiau gives us the best of two worlds: a costume drama with an unusual, even exotic, story line, and a tender, universal tale of real love. The opera sequences are a kick: the breathless crowds, Farinelli's hammy control over the drama, and his stunning castrato voice (manufactured by Corbiau via synthesized merger of male and female voices) and all make for great fun. --Tom Keogh |
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Farinelli Customer Reviews
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Beautiful But Silly
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| Visually opulent, and with a stunning soundtrack, this film could have been so much better if it didn't take completely unnecessary--and foolish--liberties with the story of the real Farinelli. Unfortunately, much of the plot is just plain silly. Whether or not a castrato would have been capable of sexual relations (and it is believed that they were), it is absurd how the film proposes that Farinelli would have sex with a woman, but then had to turn her over to his uncastrated brother to finish her off, as it were. I doubt that a man's ability to ejaculate has much to do with a woman's sexual satisfaction. And the portrayal of the composer George Frideric Handel is just plain ridiculous. When I saw this film in a theater with three friends, the scene where Handel hears Farinelli sing and nearly has a heart attack, with his wig falling off, prompted all four of us to laugh out loud. (In reality, Handel didn't have as high an opinion of Farinelli's singing as some, and chose not to hire him for his own opera troupe.) The film also depicts Farinelli plotting to sing Handel's music by having a maid steal a manuscript from Handel's apartment. The result is Farinelli singing "Lascia ch'io pianga" from the opera Rinaldo--which makes no sense at all, since that aria was written for a woman soprano, not an alto castrato, and Farinelli didn't perform travesty roles. Besides, by the time of the incident portrayed, the score of Rinaldo had been published and Farinelli could have simply purchased a copy. The main attraction of this film is the soundtrack. We really have no idea what the castrati sounded like (yes, I know there is a recording of "the last castrato" made in 1902, but it's a terribly weak representation of what the great ones must have sounded like), so for the film they concocted a unique voice by digitally combining the sounds of a woman soprano and a male falsettist. The result is dazzling; my recommendation is to buy the soundtrack. The best elements of the film are the beautiful costumes and camera work. The staging of opera scenes is beautiful enough that you wish they had included complete excerpts, instead of frustratingly brief teases; at least the musical selections are complete on the soundtrack CD. |
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Farinelli dvd movie.