Farinelli (1994)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Gérard Corbiau

Writers:

Marcel Beaulieu (writer)
Andrée Corbiau (writer)

Release Date:

17 March 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Où s'arrête le pouvoir de sa voix?

Plot:

Farinelli, is the artistic name of Carlo Broschi, a young singer in Handel's time. He was castrated in his childhood in order to preserve his voice...

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Opera | Suicide | Threesome | Mediocrity

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Stefano Dionisi	...	Carlo Broschi (Farinelli)
Enrico Lo Verso	...	Riccardo Broschi
Elsa Zylberstein	...	Alexandra
Jeroen Krabbé	...	George Frideric Handel
Caroline Cellier	...	Margareth Hunter
Renaud du Peloux de Saint Romain	...	Benedict
Omero Antonutti	...	Nicola Porpora
Marianne Basler	...	Countess Mauer
Pier Paolo Capponi	...	Broschi
Graham Valentine	...	Prince of Wales
Jacques Boudet	...	Felipe V
Delphine Zentout	...	Young admirer
Richard Reeves
Jonathan Fox
Jo Betzing		(as Josef Betzing)

Also Known As:

Farinelli (International: English title)
Farinelli voce regina (Italy) (alternative title)
Farinelli, il castrato (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for depiction of adult themes and sexuality.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

Belgium | France | Italy | USA

Language:

French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12 (w) | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bayreuth, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

K2 SA

Trivia:

Both male and female voices were combined to create the sound of Farinelli's singing voice. The male voice was Derek Lee Ragin, a British countertenor and the female Ewa Małas-Godlewska, a Polish mezzo-soprano.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 52nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (1995) (TV)

Wonderful movie but has many inaccuracies

I know I'm being sort of anal by mentioning this, but this movie, as beautiful and enchanting as it is, has many inaccuracies.

Farinelli, in addition to his handsome features and heavenly voice, was also a very humble person and hardly displayed the raucous behavior of a "rock star" as depicted in the film.

Second, the singer was known as disinterested in sex, thus I have no idea why the sex scenes in the film were included. True, there WERE castrati who did engage in pleasures of the flesh, but Farinelli was NOT one of them, or at least there are no historical records suggesting so.

All that aside, this movie was a lavishly done production and a must-see!