reviewed by
Shane Burridge
Aria (1987) 90m.
This collection of operatic arias as interpreted
by nine different directors (ten if you count Bill Bryden's linking story)
was producer Don Boyd's personal project. He was understandably anxious
about its reception but should have realized that only the idea behind
his film can be deemed a success or a failure - as a work itself, it is
so diverse in nature that it can only be evaluated piecemeal: it becomes
just as interesting an exercise in criticism as it is in film-making.
To summarize: Nicolas Roeg's segment replays an obscure moment in European history and comes of as nothing much more than a curiosity; Charles Sturridge's images of children trapped in an adult world complement the numinous aria accompanying them; Godard is just as irritating as ever, though he at least should be commended for proving that a professional piece of film can be created with a minimal production crew; Bruce Beresford's contribution, in which virtually nothing happens, is probably the most disposable entry; Julien Temple choreographs a bedroom farce to Verdi's 'Rigoletto'; Robert Altman, in a moment of pure perversity, shows us not the theatrical event but the audience watching that event (the joke wears thin pretty quickly); Franc Roddam expertly transplants the doomed lovers Tristan and Isolde into contemporary Las Vegas; Ken Russell takes us into a mystical mindscape; and Derek Jarman's clip is so generic that almost any piece of pop music could be dubbed onto it to much the same effect.
To view Boyd's project as a whole, we must
really locate where its different directors agree about the essence of
opera. In this instance, it's pretty straightforward - sex and death. It's
also fun to see where they differ, in any number of binary choices: e.g.,
popular arias versus the esoteric; the adherence to or departure from the
context of the original libretto; the refusal or indulgence of directorial
trademarks (to this end, we can see evidence of Jarman's music videos and
8mm film paste-ups, Roeg's use of wife Theresa Russell, Godard's use of
intertitles and soundtrack jumpcuts). Surprisingly, it is from the two
least expected sources, Sturridge and Roddam, that the potential of Boyd's
concept is best realized - their sequences are as evocative and emotive
as we would hope for. But it is Ken Russell, who has always been adept
at this sort of thing, where ARIA really coalesces in terms of concept,
visuals, and music. To say more would spoil it for you. Film is unlikely
to produce imitators, so it may well remain one of a kind. Sumptuous photography
and superb music make it ideal theatrical fare.