Don Giovanni (1979)

This is possibly the most beautiful opera video ever produced. It was not filmed on stage, but on location in Vicenza, Italy, with absolutely stunning setting. It features excellent performances, including Ruggero Raimondi (the perfect Don) and Kiri Te Kanawa (the perfect Donna Elvira). Of the 5 or 6 greatest operas ever written (all Mozart's, in my opinion), some say Don Giovanni stands out as the most perfect achievement. Whatever your opinion may be, by getting this video you will be getting the very finest rendition of this masterwork I have ever seen. It is sung in the original Italian, with English subtitles. Incidentally, one reviewer complained of the poor quality of the sound. This is unfortunately true (shame on Kultur Videos!) but don't let this stop you from purchasing this excellent video you won't regret it.

This is a "movie opera", and I am not a fan of them, because I find some of the passion is filtered out when the singing is separated from the acting, and though this film is well done, it has a lot of that "lip-synch" look, which dims the dramatic impact. I would rather watch a filmed live performance, with less gloss, and more feeling.

The lavish production is stunning to look at, with great art direction (by Alexandre Tauner) and cinematography (by Gerry Fischer), a very attractive cast, and of course, Mozart's score, which I think is his most sublime masterpiece.

The singers are excellent: Kiri Te Kanawa as Donna Elvira, and Edda Moser as Donna Anna really shine above all, both so lovely and graceful, and vocally wonderful. Moser especially manages to be emotionally expressive. Ruggero Raimondi is a fine Don Giovanni, Jose Van Dam a rather elegent Leporello, with John Macurdy as Il Commendatore, Kenneth Riegel as Ottavio, Teresa Berganza as Zerlina, and Malcolm King as Masetto rounding out the cast well.

The sound: The volume fluctuates depending on where the singer is placed in the scene, fading out as they walk away for instance, which is dramatically appropriate, but a musical disaster. There is a quartet that is bizarre in its balance, since two of the singers are in the background. Lorin Maazel conducts the Paris Opera, which in this, and other recordings I have heard, does not have the richest and fullest sound in the world, and may be adding to the problems.

The Don's demise however, starting with the Commendatore's "Don Giovanni a cenar teco" is marvelous, and despite the camera inexplicably lingering on the servant boy instead of the action at times, it is a riveting scene, with some of the most superb music ever written.

Though well worth viewing, I would put this film into the "rent not buy" category, unless one is an inveterate opera collector.

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Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni is masterful. The opening scenes resonate perfectly with the music. The gathering clouds slowly darkening the sky and the melancholy sea beating against the shoreline foretell of a sea-change. Bad days are ahead for the Don. Ruggero Raimondi is the perfect Don Giovanni totally believable and true to Mozart's characterization. The location shots add a dimension to Opera that take this production to another level. Losey makes sure the music is always in sync with the action. When Don Ottario is singing in the Gondolla, for instance, the oarsman is keeping perfect time with the music which, esthetically, is a major improvement over what is normally a dry section of the Opera. Another interesting touch that Losey gives to this production is the character, played by Eric Adjani, called the "Silent Valet." A sly mephistophelean presence that provides an excellent counterpoint to the levity of José van Dam's Leporello. Though he never speaks, his demeanor encourages the Don's baser instincts (one might even argue that he is an image of the younger Giovanni). Losey is masterful in creating visual images that give the story more depth. There is a scene in particular, in which Giovanni watches a nude girl bathing. While she is unaware of his presence the scene is a combination of innocence and sensuality. When she does become aware of the intrusion, Giovanni gives her his penetrating stare, which she returns with a look that is knowing and somehow sad. There has indeed been a sea change and the Don is travelling inevitably down a road that will lead to his demise.

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I have a very personal relation to that production. Being a teenage vandal I used to record heavy metal music over the operatic masterpieces on Decca's cassettes there was a shortage of a quality tape in Russia these days.

One day in was Don Giovanni soundtrack's turn to fall victim my friend's Black Sabbath album yearned to be duplicated. I was in a strange mood so I just turned on the opera to make things worse for me the usual teenage masochism.

The sounds streaming from Hi-Fi made me listen till the end. Then I pushed the rewind and listened once more. Got hold of the film next day. Yesterday was a day of my 100th viewing give or take a couple times.

Since then I've seen a lot, but Losey's film is still my favourite. The movie is a perfect introduction to the world of opera.

It takes care of many preconceptions that prevent lots of people from enjoying the genre.

The casting is perfect. Many of us have a problem with separating a voice and a body. Young lovely virgin sung by colossal diva does not look veritable. Wrinkled and potbellied owner of the divine tenor voice makes us wish for a younger and leaner replacement for the romantic lover's part. How to solve that?

The sensous lips of deliciously breasted Sophie Lourent were opening to the voice of Renata Tebaldi in Aida's production but the result is pure kitsch.

Enter the Losey's masterpiece. Everyone is perfectly cast. Ruggero Raimondi makes you care for the character, despise the lecher and respect the brave man who challenges Fate. He contributes his eyes to the best closeups in opera films, his non-athletic body to the bathtub scene, when the fluffy clothes are shod and we see that sagging flesh the striking visual commentary on the nature of sin.

Kiri Te Kanawa is passionately unrestrained, she stalks the monster, warns the potential victims...and loves him till the final pyrotechnics. I suspect well after that too.

Donna Anna cradles her purity so fervently that you begin to suspect that such fervor is meant to fight the temptation that is equally strong.

Don Ottavio is corpulent and not very brave his self-inflammatory singing warms him up for the task ahead. And he looks funny when informed that after all these trials the physical consumation of his love is postponed for a whole year!

The rest of the singers are also the perfect match except maybe Theresa Berganza's Zerlina, who is lamely coquettish and unconvincing.

The production was filmed in Vicenza, the villas, the canals and gardens combine in a world of beauty. And very laconical, truly classic beauty that is. No dusty curtains of theater just marble, sky and greenery.

That production is terribly underrated, it does not occupy the place it deserves the DVD is a must, but there is still no disc, while a host of mediocre opera films has already got their tickets to eternity.

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I truly wanted to enjoy this Don Giovanni. Unfortunately, not enough advantage is taken of the film medium (for example, the entire "Mille torbidi pensieri" section of "Sola, sola in buio loco" is done in a single shot, with all the actors standing in a line, providing no advantage over a staged production). The sound, as it has been said before, is quite terrible, but what I simply cannot force myself to overlook is the character interpretation.

Raimondi is a decent enough Don Giovanni, being sinister, shameless, and coldly proper. Unfortunately, Don Giovanni is not the only character in the opera. If he were, this would be a pretty good movie. Much of our view of Don Giovanni's character has to do with his servant. Typically, Leporello is unwisely played as a complete doofus. In this case, Leporello is the opposite, if just as bad--almost completely devoid of personality, which is nothing short of a wonder, considering both the music and the text given to the character. I never knew that "Ah, pieta, signori miei" could be sung almost completely lifelessly. He looks somewhat unconcerned when his life is threatened in "Sola, sola in buio loco," and, far from being afraid of his master, seems quite indignant when Don Giovanni tries to blame him for the attack on Zerlina. The amount of propriety he displays would work for a more typical servant role, but Leporello is not a typical servant role, being both our access to the story and our contact with reality, and most of the comedy in the opera, to boot. I was severely disappointed in this case. I wanted the wit and sarcasm of Leporello to have more than a cameo appearance. I wanted him to have a little humor to him, maybe even the capacity for a smile. I wanted him to actually make sense.

Kiri Te Kanawa is a wonderful singer, but she seems to have a similar problem to Jose van Dam's in her Donna Elvira. She is angry, but there isn't exactly a personality to go with her anger. She reacts to the situations and the text, but without any great thought to why her character reacts this way. I found it very odd, actually, that she's singing "God protect my trusting heart" with a joyous smile. Her "Mi tradi" is slow, frustratingly lyrical, and altogether unsatisfying, but that is truly the fault of the conductor.

The filming of Masetto's "Ho capito, signor si" is a little silly. He is standing outside the house into which Don Giovanni and Zerlina have disappeared as he sings to them, which works until he sings, "Vengo, vengo" ("I'm coming, I'm coming"). This line is meant to be sung to Leporello, who is urging him to come away to Don Giovanni's palace. When Masetto sings this to the air, it doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, this sort of disregard for the text occurs throughout the opera. For example, Leporello imitates the footsteps of the statue without having actually heard them--he only sees a brief, ghostly visage of the statue, which quickly fades in and out, but never walks at all.

The rest of the cast is made up of gorgeous voices. I could have closed my eyes and been quite happy, but watching them is quite boring. The only one that shows a real glimmer is Zerlina (thank God for Teresa Bergonza), who very much seems to enjoy tormenting Masetto during "Batti, batti."

I did like the way the Catalogue Aria was filmed, if not the way it was sung. It is visually interesting for various servants to pull out enormous volumes and spread their single lengthy page far, far across what appears to be Don Giovanni's front lawn, down into the nearby village. It's over-the-top, but appropriately so. I also like that Donna Anna is not the first to see her father dead--that the Commendatore is killed in the middle of a street, and people are gathering and some servants are even lifting the body onto a stretcher when Donna Anna and Don Ottavio see the scene. I was quite happy that Don Giovanni and Leporello are literally shouting in each others' faces at the end of "Eh via, buffone," even if Leporello appears more stuck-up than angry.

One scene which made me excited for a brief moment was the Act I finale, just as we are entering the "Tremor, tremor, scellerato!" section. Don Giovanni seizes Leporello and pushes him through the crowd, and the Anti-Giovanni Wheel follows them. "Ah! Camera movement!" I thought excitedly. "They're taking advantage of the action in the music!" It was short-lived. The Don and his servant quickly reach a point where they stop and keep singing while everyone else stands some distance away. This is what I mean when I say this movie does not take advantage of the film medium.

There are definitely better Don Giovannis on DVD, including even the all-right von Karajan production with Samuel Ramey. Far superior is the Met production of 2000 with Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, which I have reviewed on Amazon. While no specific production will please everybody, some come closer than others, and regrettably, this one does not even come close for me.

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