Aria (1987)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Directors:

Robert Altman
Bruce Beresford

Writers:

Robert Altman (segment)
Bruce Beresford (segment)

Release Date:

July 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Ten great directors. One unforgettable film. The most sensual experience you'll ever have in a movie theater.

Plot:

Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman...

Plot Keywords:

Reading Newspaper | Smoking Cigar | Shot To Death | Mannequin | Erotica

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Theresa Russell	...	King Zog (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Stephanie Lane	...	Baroness (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Roy Hyatt	...	Chauffeur (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Sevilla Delofski	...	Maid (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Ruth Halliday	...	Companion (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Arthur Cox	...	Major (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Dennis Holmes	...	Colonel (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Paul Brightwell	...	Assassin (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Frank Baker	...	Assassin (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Chris Hunter	...	Assassin (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Nicola Swain	...	Marie (segment "La virgine degli angeli")
Jackson Kyle	...	Travis (segment "La virgine degli angeli")
Marianne McLoughlin	...	Kate (segment "La virgine degli angeli")
Marion Peterson	...	Les Jeunes Filles (segment "Armide")
Valérie Allain	...	Les Jeunes Filles (segment "Armide")

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

Italian | French | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:18 | USA:R

Company:

R.V.P. Productions

Trivia:

Federico Fellini was attached to this project in the very beginning. He worked with Don Boyd the producer in Rome and only dropped out because he was ill - he was making his much delayed Intervista. Like everybody else who saw Aria, he loved various sections of the movie, particularly Roddam's and Temple's sections.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Bob Saget/TLC (#20.19)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Nessun dorma

Uneven, but worth seeing

10 respected directors each shot a short film with operatic arias as the inspiration (and music). I'll do each one separately:

Nicolas Roeg (dir)--Giuseppe Verdi (music). A story about an assassination attempt in 1931 Vienna. Theresa Russell (Roegs wife) plays a man! Not bad--very beautiful and exotic. Russell is great.

Charles Sturridge--Verdi. No story but there is some haunting black and white imagery that fits perfectly with the music.

Jean-Luc Godard--Jean Baptiste Lully. Horrendous. Pointless, boring, no plot, no nothing. Filled with gratuitous female nudity. The worst!

Julien Temple--Verdi. Buck Henry, Beverly D'Angelo and Anita Morris star in this funny, if obvious, story about a cheating couple. Pretty good.

Bruce Beresford--Erich Korngold. Short, lush and romantic. Very good.

Robert Altman--Jean-Philippe Rameau. Dull. A yawner.

Fran Roddam--Richard Wagner. This has Bridget Fonda in her film debut. Beautifully done love story with a fairly explicit sex scene.

Ken Russell--Giacomo Puccini. Really strange but OK.

Derek Jarman--Gustave Chapentier. Lyrical look at youth and old age. Very sweet.

The last is by Bill Bryden doing "I Pagliacci". He has John Hurt (!) dressed as a clown lip-syncing to Caruso (!!!).

When this came out it almost got an X rating (for the abundant nudity and the sex scene). It was given an R with a strict warning attached saying the R rating would be heavily enforced. After the film bombed that warning disappeared.

The idea isn't bad and 6 out of the 10 segments were worthwhile. Worth seeing even if you don't like opera. Just avoid the Godard segment. I'm giving it an 8.