DIVA Movie Review

This plush and sparkling romantic thriller—the debut feature of director Jean-Jacques Bieneix—is the story of Jules (Frédéric Andrei), a young messenger who becomes obsessed with the operatic voice and person of American opera star Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelminia Wiggins Fernandez). Jules has made a secret, bootleg recording of Cynthia's performance of La Wally, and when his tape becomes mixed up with a recording sought by drug dealers, Diva splinters into a crystalline kaleidoscope of chases, hideouts, and unexpectedly romantic moments, all set in a glistening, neon-lit Paris. Whenever Diva appears to be veering toward the utterly shallow, an inspired bit of decor or music or motion lifts it out of the merely fashionable and into that privileged realm of dazzling movies that exist merely for the love of movies. It's true that some films that toss in a little bit of everything in their search for hipness end up being mere uncommitted pastiches, but Diva has style and personality to burn. A lot of films since—including some by Bieneix himself—have clearly been Diva wannabees, but this film's pungent formula is more than simply original; it's got legs. Unfortunately, the same wasn't true of Bieneix's career, which sank like a rock with the subsequent Moon in the Gutter, and has yet to recover.

NEXT STOP … Moon in the Gutter, Betty Blue

1982 (R) 123m/C FR Frederic Andrei, Roland Bertin, Richard Bohringer, Gerard Darmon, Jacques Fabbri, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, Dominique Pinon; D: Jean-Jacques Beineix; W: Jean-Jacques Beineix; C: Philippe Rousselot; M: Vladimir Cosma. Cesar Awards '82: Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Score; National Society of Film Critics Awards '82: Best Cinematography. VHS, LV MGM