Farinelli Movie Review 1994

A movie to make men cringe. Floridly depicts the complex professional and personal ties of 18th-century opera composer Riccardo Broschi (Lo Verso) and his younger brother Carlo (Dionisi), a celebrated castrato singer under the stage name "Farinelli." In part, because of an early church prohibition against women singing in public, boys were castrated before puberty to preserve their pure soprano voices while vocal power and agility grew as they became men. Castrati were the rock stars of their day and Farinelli lived a flamboyant life before retiring to the Spanish court of Philip V. The castrato voice heard in the movie is an electronic mixture of counter-tenor Derek Lee Ragin and soprano Ewa Mallas Godlewska. French and Italian with subtitles.

Distribution

Sony Pictures Home Video, Sony Pictures Plz., 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232, Phone: (310)244-7306, Fax: (310)280-2485, URL: http://www.spe.sony.com, Remarks: Formerly Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 110 minutes.
Originally from French, Italian, Belgian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Biopics: Musicians, Sex & Sexuality, True Stories, Brothers & Sisters, Opera, Period Piece: 18th Century, Royalty

Screenplay

Gerard Corbiau, Andree Corbiau, Marcel Beaulieu

Cast

Stefano Dionisi, Enrico Lo Verso, Jeroen Krabbe, Elsa Zylberstein, Caroline Cellier, Omero Antonutti, Jacques Boudet

Cinematography

Walther Vanden Ende

Director

Gerard Corbiau

Music

Christopher Rousset

Producer

Vera Belmont, BAC Films Ltd., Sony Pictures Classics

Awards

Cesar 1995: Art Dir./Set Dec., Sound; Golden Globes 1995: Foreign Film.