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75 reviews in total

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56 out of 60 people found the following review useful:
Great, weird plot - and everything else is even better, 11 June 2003

Author: RWiggum from Erlangen, Germany

Today, most films have a structure so simple, you can abstract it in one mere sentence. Diva is not such a film, it has so much plot that I don't know where to begin. Maybe I'll begin with the two tapes the film is all about. Tape one is the bootleg record of the beautiful aria Ebben ne andro lontana from Alfredo Catalani's opera La Wally, taped during the recital of the famous opera singer Cynthia Hawkins. On tape, two Nadja, a prostitute, discloses who is the man behind a prostitution ring. The man who possesses these two tapes is Jules, a postman; tape one because he's the one who recorded it (for private use only, of course), tape two because Nadja slipped it into his bag just seconds before she's killed. Not really knowing why, Jules finds himself fleeing from the police and from the mob because of the latter tape - and since Cynthia Hawkins always refused to make tape recordings of her voice, two guys from the Taiwanese mafia, who sat just behind Jules when he recorded his bootleg, see their chance to make a fortune with it, try to get it and blackmail the diva.

Meanwhile, Jule becomes friends with Cynthia Hawkins when he brings her back a dress he stole after her recital (but not after having sex with a hooker wearing it) and they spend a day together. He also encounters Alba, a nice, glib girl with a talent for shoplifting (she developed a technique that makes you wish you're the guy behind the counter) and Gorodish, the man she lives with, two people who will help him a lot in the course of the film. All this is handled by director Jean-Jacques Beineix with virtuosity. But I'm only talking about the twisted plot here, whereas Diva is so much more.

It is its pop-art style, it is its unique genre-mix of Thriller and Romance, it is Jules' apartment, which looks like combination of a studio and a garage, it is its two killers who look like they escaped a Jeunet-film (and indeed Dominique Pinon, who plays one of the two killers, went on to star in Delicatessen, La cité des enfants perdus and Amélie), it is that wonderful chase scene where Jules drives down the stairs and takes the Métro with his moped, it is that absurdly funny scene with the blue Beethoven bust, it is Thuy An Luu, playing Alba as a cheerful girl that makes you wish you had a girlfriend like that, it is Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, a real-life opera singer in her only film role, playing a wonderful Cynthia Hawkins (how I love that look she gives when someone reminds her of her age), it is Gorodish ingeniously solving two problems at once, it is its wonderful ending I will not reveal her with the perfect last words (Shhhh, listen...)... I could go on with this list forever. With its hilarious story, its beautiful images, its weird characters and its joyous direction, Diva could open the door to the cinema of the rest of the world for those whose Top 10 list consist only of films as Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Usual Suspects or The Godfather. It is a film I immensely love and could watch over and over again.

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35 out of 38 people found the following review useful:
Best movie ever about bootlegging concerts, 30 May 2003
Author: McGonigle from bean world, massachusetts

Diva is a movie that seems just as stunning and unique to me today as it did when I first saw it 20 years ago. One of those movies that you will remember forever.

On the surface, it's an exercise in pure style, combining exciting, "hip" visuals with great music (opera as well as some great atmospheric incidental music). But there are hundreds of movies like that. What makes Diva so memorable to me is the way it combines this stylish cinematic eye candy with a suspenseful plot, good acting, a touch of romance and sex, and even a smattering of philosophy (as the title character explains her reasons for not allowing her voice to be recorded, not to mention the immortal bread-buttering scene).

It sounds like a recipe for a boring, highly stylized "European" movie, but this is a film where the excitement never flags for a minute. One of the true gems of 80s cinema. As a friend said "If you wanted to be hip in the 80s, you had to have seen 'Liquid Sky', 'Repo Man' and 'Diva'". But even today, you should see it just because it's a great movie.

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26 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Super cool thriller/art film. One of the most stylish movies ever made., 21 February 2003
Author: Infofreak from Perth, Australia

I watched 'Diva' the other day for the first time in at least fifteen years and it really held up. Long regarded as a pivotal 1980s art film, it has influenced many subsequent film makers, in advertising, and music videos. I'd say Ridley Scott was aware of it when he shot 'Blade Runner' and that opens up a whole can of worms. One could argue that 'Diva', though by no means science fiction, was a strong influence on William Gibson and other cyberpunk writers. Director Beineix is probably best know for the erotic classic 'Betty Blue', but this is a much more original and interesting movie. Beineix uses every trick in the book to make this movie visually stunning, but the plot is also strong, concerning the confusion between tapes of an Opera singer who abhors recordings, and evidence which can nail a corrupt cop. A young messenger (Frederic Andrei) gets caught up in this mistake and his life is soon at risk. Along the way he also comes to have an odd relationship with the singer in question (Wilhelmenia Fernandez), as well as a strange art student cum shoplifter (Thuy An Luu). Nothing is straightforward in 'Diva' but it is consistently watchable. Keep an eye out for Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Dominique Pinot as a cool looking punk thug, and also the outstanding motorcycle sequence. A very good movie. Recommended.

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28 out of 39 people found the following review useful:
Beautiful visuals, sounds, performances. Wow, 5 May 2004
Author: imdb-3599 from Attleboro, MA, USA

I saw Diva for the first time as a college student in a film class art theater marathon. I'd just finished the most boring excuse for a movie ever made (no offense to fans of "My Dinner with Andre") and went in to see Diva.

I was floored. The most beautiful example of "disastre deluxe" I've ever seen - everything is so rundown it's gorgeous. The music perfectly matches the whole film. The performances are not "realistic", but they are not meant to be.

This is obviously not a piece of cinema verite and shouldn't be reviewed as such. "Diva" is a 2 hour tour de force of cinema as experience. One of the finest films I've ever seen.

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13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Stylish, charming, and always original, 27 April 2005

Author: Galina from Virginia, USA

A wonderful combination of many genres - Action / Drama / Mystery / Romance / Thriller / Music/Art, this tale of two tapes may actually change the way you think about opera.

Wilhelmenia Fernandez as Cynthia Hawkins (Diva) who always refused to be recorded - is a revelation; her voice, a magic mixture of melted pure gold and crystal is a miracle.

There are so much more in this absolutely unique film - just to mention a certain shoplifting technique, or the coolest chase which started in the streets of Paris and ended in the subway's car.

The most fascinating thing for me is that Diva was released about twenty years ago in Moscow, I remember the title - but I never saw it back then. Better later than never.

Highly recommended - 9/10

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15 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
views from a true fan, 10 February 2004

Author: (celito) from Berne, Switzerland

I admit having seen this picture about twenty times. To me, it's the perfect balance between suspense, love story, music film, and comedy. And then the pictures! Every single scene has been carefully built to reach maximum optical effect. There are so many details to discover that seeing the movie once is not enough. This picture is a MUST for every true movie fan...

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12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Viva Diva, 12 June 2001

Author: irajoel (irajoel@aol.com) from new york city

Jean-Jacques Beineix's first film is a quirky colorful pop mixture of action, romance ,music and fairy tale that is based on a pop novel by Delacorta. The story concerns a young French postal delivery boy named Jules, who is also an opera lover & a big fan of the beautiful,& eccentric African American diva Cynthia Hawkins who is performing in Paris when the movie opens. Ms. Hawkins played by opera singer Wilhelmenia Fernandez refuses to sing for recordings, and this quirk of hers is what sets the action of the movie moving. Jules decides to tape Hawkins in performance, after which he goes backstage to meet the diva, and promptly steals the gown she wore at the concert, which he sometimes uses as a scarf when its not hanging in a shrine he has made to her in his large loft filled with disgarded cars. The plot really gets tangled when Jules, while on his way to a delivery witnesses the murder of a barefooted young woman who is carrying a tape that has a lot of plot and secrets on it. Who is she, and why does she wind up with an icepick in her back is one of the movie's many enjoyable plot devices that slowly unravels as the film goes on. While on her way to the icepick the lady drops her tape (unknown to him at the time)in Jules delivery pouch, and the chase so to speak is on. Jules charmingly played by Frederic Andrei is not only in danger from the very creepy killers of the lady, but also from two shady Japanese record producers who want his pirated tape of Hawkins beautiful aria from "La Wally" that Jules recorded. Very much influenced by American crime thrillers & film noir but very much it's own film, Diva is a delight from the very beginning to the beautiful ending which takes place on an empty stage and always moves me to shed a few tears. One of the terrific things about Diva is it's lively cast of characters all wonderfully played. Thuy An Luu as the young & sexy Vietnamese model Alba, is most winning as the companion of the strange & seemingly very wealthy recluse played by the great Richard Bohringer. These are characters and performances to embrace, they make one feel good. There are many wonderful set pieces including a quite amazing chase on motorbike through the Paris metro, a stroll in the early morning hours around Paris with Jules and Hawkins, and of course the gorgous singing of Ms. Fernandez. Beautifully photographed by Philippe Rousselot this is one of the highlights of 1982, and among the very best of the decade. The newly released and happily restored DVD does justice to the film both in the quality of the picture and sound.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Pure Hypnosis and Music, 25 February 2009

Author: Amit Aishwarya Jogi from India

This film isn't about piracy, prostitution, blackmail or even murder- although it has loads of all that. At its heart, Diva is about music- no, not the loud jarring sort but the kind that occupies the space between silences.

And we don't just listen to it; what is more, we actually see this music: in the eerie emptiness of Diva's cinematography; in the uncluttered labyrinth of Parisian urban lofts; on an enchanted castle by the sea; in the surprisingly meaningful relationships between strangers; and in the wild applause of an empty opera house.

Beineix's weaves a world that is, for lack of a better word, hypnotic. And we, his viewers, simply drift through it.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
A French 1980's Thriller Romance: Diva, 25 July 2008

Author: FloatingOpera7 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Diva (1981): Frederic Andrei, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Thuy An Lu, Richard Bohringer, Jacques Fabbri, Chantal Deruaz, Anny Romand, Roland Bertin, Gerard Darmon, Dominique Pinon, Jean Jacques Moreau, Patrick Floersheim, Raymond Aquilon, Eugene Berthier, Gerard Chaillou....Director Jean Jacques Beineix, Screenplay Jean Jacques Beineix Adapted from the novel by Daniel Odier, this 1981-1982 film from French director Jean Jacques Beineix marked a new wave of French cinema for the 1980's. Previous French films in the 1970's were darker and moodier, more pretentious in many ways and a lot more philosophical/intellectually serious in their art-house endeavor. But "Diva" is a combination of art-house, comedy and thriller made up in a colorful fabric of cinematography, nuanced acting, beautiful music and an engaging story. It's "deluxe look" employs many of the "advertisement" gimmicks from popular 1980's French magazines. It's a slow moving movie, so for anyone seeing it for the first time, it should feel as long as any foreign film usually does. The topping on the artsy cake is Italian opera - the constant use of the soprano aria "Ebben N'andro lontano" from Catalani's "La Wally" is forever linked to this movie. The French cultural signature is on this but it's nothing heavy. It does lead up to a climatic finale and has all the ingredients of the typical thriller fiction - detectives trying to locate the bad guy and bring him to justice. There are chases both by car and foot, attempted murder and a murder, and the seedier side of Paris (prostitution, drugs, white slavery, poverty) despite the genuine goodness of the lead characters. It's a movie that seems to want to emulate modern American movies, especially in its touches of comedy and comic relief, and in the attitudes of the characters, who, despite being youth of the 1980's, also seem to be reminders of counterculture from the 1960's and 1970's, free spirited, hippie-intellectuals.

Set in President Mitterand's early 1980's Paris, the film follows what appears to be an episode in the life of a poor, bohemian dreamer and postal worker Jules (Frederic Andrei). His romantic obsession for the African-American opera singer Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Fernandez) leads him to secretly tape record her singing voice at a Paris concert. His intentions are pure. He wants to keep a memento of her and to have access to her beautiful voice from his own home. He also boldly steals one of her expensive gowns (this out of sexual longing, like stealing a woman's panties). But before long, he finds himself involved in a plot involving a murdered prostitute, two police detectives and the head of a drug cartel and prostitution ring. The recording also featured the confession of the prostitute who was murdered, who had sought to expose a corrupt Police Captain who had been operating as prostitution ring from Africa and Paris. This forces Jules to become involved in a sticky situation and he's soon being hunted by both the cops and the baddies, each trying to get that tape that's in his possession. It also calls for the eponymous diva, who has long refused to make recordings, to consider finally recording her voice to save herself.

Among the characters that compose the "good guy" group are Gorodish Richard Bohringer) and his Vietnamese lover Alba (Thuy An Luu) who is a kind of chic "thief" and bohemian girl. Gorodish is a loner, lives in a large but unfurnished loft where he is constantly meditating to low-bass New Age music and thinking of strange things like trying to stop the "ocean waves". Jules is himself an artist and collects (through theft) various objects which he uses for artwork a la Andy Warhol. Strangely enough, it's this strange poor prophet who saves Jules' lives when it's endangered by the Mafia-type men who seek to destroy the tape he made. But even these bad guys (Gerard Darmon and Dominique Pinon) are straight of comedy as Le Cure constantly expresses his hatred of garages, police and everything. The comedy is in the perfectly timed dialogue scenes. This is also a cop movie. Jean and Nadia (Jacques Fabbri and Chantal Deruaz) are a male-female detective duo who are hot on the trail of the men responsible for killing the hooker and eventually discover the police Captain's corrupt alter ego.

Perhaps the most touching aspect of the film is the romance. Jules and Cynthia Hawkins have a connection - opera. Jules is an opera connoisseur and admires Cynthia so much he followed her from Paris to Munich, always on his mini bike/motorcycle/mobilette. He is physically drawn to her but they don't engage in sexual activity, not even after what seems to be a romantic date. Cynthia is a proud black artist (probably modeled after real life 80's divas like Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle) who believes that business ought to work its way around art. She has integrity and refuses to be part of a commercial enterprise and to "sell out". A more romantic and yet restrained and sober relationship on film you'll be hard-pressed to find. I enjoyed this film and highly recommend it to any French culture class. This is one of the early masterpieces of French cinema "du look" from the 1980's.

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8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Supercool French thriller twisty-turns nicely, 19 June 2001

Author: (thehumanduvet@hotmail.com) from uk

The French have been carrying the torch of quality in this Hitchcockian-noir genre for some time now and this is a typically classy display. The plot twists itself up well as a (fairly) innocent postman gets himself caught up in all kinds of trouble through a series of oddball events and strange deeds, and then, with a little bit of help from his friends, attempts to save the day, and all the strands unwind themselves in a satisfyingly clever finale. Though the opera theme is a bit eighties, the rest retains its sheen of cool throughout, and some of the characters are great; the uber-French Dominique Pinon (of Delicatessen/City of Lost Children fame) is fun in a minor role as a disgruntled thug, the hero's beatnik-crook new friends are very very stylish, and the lead himself has that look of perplexed panic perfect for this kind of character. Good

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