La Traviata

Franco shows Violetta's clinging to her free ways when she knows her heart is being captured by Alfonso with a wildness that is so appropriate. She rushes in a foreshadowy nightrail through the darkened mansion, strewn with champagne bottles and dead symbols of the festivities with a madness that I always thought belonged in "Sempre Libera". It's fabulous. Not that any of these operas are symbols of feminist power, but if you want to see the perfectly balanced stylistic performance that shows grit and sadness of a prostitute who knows she is dying and giving up her found love and tenuous happiness for the happiness of another, this is it.


Cinema 2, Opera 1   June 23, 2002
Charles S. Tashiro (Agoura Hills, CA USA)
Your opinion of "La Traviata" is likely to depend on how free you feel filmmakers should be to adapt established works of art. Director Franco Zeffirelli has practically made a career out of adapting one "classic" play or opera after another (not to mention the life of Jesus) into a parade of baroquely extravagant movies. There is nothing radical in any of Zeffirelli's films. He treats all of the originals in more or less traditional, respectful ways. He just usually does it with such lush abandon that people often have difficulty with the results.

These "difficulties" derive from the untenable, though surprisingly persistent, belief that there is a "pure" version of a book, play or other literary effort that a filmmaker can somehow serve if only he or she is "faithful" enough to the original. This attitude is never less defensible than with a work like "La Traviata," since Verdi's opera is itself an adaptation of a Dumas novel. If composers are free to adapt novels without censure, why should filmmakers have to justify their changes?

On the other hand, having chosen a particular work, the filmmaker can't just ignore it. So stuffed to the gills with decor, splashy camerawork and whirling, twirling, cavorting extras, "La Traviata" doesn't so much ignore the opera as overwhelm the story and music which were, presumably, the reason for making the film. The score is competently performed, although lacking in the visceral and emotional thrills one would expect. Some of the most famous arias have been truncated substantially, giving the impression that the filmmakers were embarrassed by their familiarity. Domingo and Stratas give it their all, but don't bring out much in each other. Their love is more conventional than convincing and the resulting histrionics have to be taken on faith more than experienced as the tragic inevitability of oversized passions.

Only the work of cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri, costume designer Piero Tosi and Zeffirelli (as production designer and director) stand out, which is another way of saying that in the competing demands between opera and film, cinema wins in "La Traviata." It is a sumptuous, often spellbinding spectacle, full of ravishing images and sequences of great panache. As a performance of "La Traviata," however, it borders on the perfunctory.


Brings My Friends to Tears Every Time   June 14, 2002
Linda McDonnell (Brooklyn, U.S.A)
Yes, I've shown this film to some very different women, with the same reaction every time--they become quite wrapped up in the tragic love story of Violetta and Alfreddo, to the point of tears!

I first saw this movie when it was relatively new, and when I had never even seen a live opera yet. It was as extraordinary for me then as my friends continue to find it. From the moment I saw Placido Domingo in Violetta's hallway, I was hooked on him. But then, I have always been partial to extremely masculine foreign men like Rossano Brazzi.

It's wonderfully filmed, with lush settings and beautiful costuming, especially for Teresa Stratas, our Violetta, the jaded courtesan dying of consumption but eager to grasp at a last chance for love and happiness. With her dark hair and eyes, she bewitches Alfreddo, who impetuously offers her all he has, his love. For a time, it seems that happiness and health is theirs in the country retreat they find, far from the excesses of Paris, but Alfreddo's father arrives and makes a request of Violetta put in terms that she cannot refuse. A misunderstanding between the lovers arises, and tragedy for all is the result. But the audience finds itself caring very much about these characters and wishing that things would turn out very differently.

One scene which I particularly like is when Violetta, Alfreddo, and her lover the baron attend a sumptuous party at Flora's. Here we have dancing gypsy girls and extremely acrobatic matadors tearing up the scene and getting the blood boiling, before things really begin to heat up with the romantic triangle.

But there are many other memorable moments, such as Violetta's opening party, where the famous drinking song masks the love proposals Alfreddo offers, and the frame scenes of the now-on-her-deathbed Violetta, bookending this flashback story of love found and lost, twice.

If you really want to get a bunch of women to bond over their tears, break out "La Traviata". And even if you are all alone, you'll have a transcending evening just listening to the sweetness of this master score of Verdi's.


Absolutely Beautiful   March 25, 2002
Lazyboy (South-Central Texas)
This is a magnificent production; one to be enjoyed again and again. Not being a professional critic of films or musical performances, I do not look for, nor do I expect to find, flaws when I settle into my easy chair to enjoy a film. What I do expect is that I will be entertained, and that is something this film does wonderfully. It has everything. Verdi's score and Piave's libretto are beautiful beyond description. The visuals are candy to the eye, and the performances are heartbreakingly lovely. An inevitable result of watching and listening to this DVD are tears in my eyes and a catch in my throat. Buy this DVD for the please it provides. If you want something to criticize, buy a gangsta rap performance disk.