classicsoncall This film has a dual plot line in which dirty cops are after the main character because they believe he has a cassette tape incriminating their boss in prostitution and drug trafficking. At the same time, Jules (Frédéric Andréi) has created his own tape of a famous operatic singer who refuses to have her own voice recorded as an affront by those who would profit from it. It's an interesting double bind Jules finds himself in, even though for a good portion of the story he's unaware that the tape he holds of a crooked chief inspector is in his possession; it was secretly dropped into his mail satchel by the mistress of Commissaire Saporta (Jacques Fabbri) while on the run from the thugs he set out after her. For whatever reason, even for all it's intrigue, I couldn't quite connect with this story. It's not hard to follow if one pays attention, and the opera star Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Fernandez) has the most beautiful voice, but the characters and situations ultimately didn't engage me in a meaningful way. The eventual confrontation between the corrupt Chief Inspector and Jules ends in the most ignominious way when the cop falls off of an elevated landing in a warehouse when the lights go out. That just seemed so lame to me. No doubt others will find much more intrigue and mystery to the film than this viewer did, so in keeping with a time honored phrase designed to keep you invested in the story until it's conclusion, I would simply state, it's not over until the black lady sings.

lasttimeisaw If one considers this as a white-knuckle thriller contingent on its narrative coherence, DIVA, Beineix's groundbreaking feature debut, is not a qualified specimen, but by retrospect, it is a pioneer piece of work which commences a specific style in French cinema from 1980s, CINÉMA DU LOOK, where a lurid visual approach presides over the essential narrative, exemplified by Luc Besson, Leos Carax, and of course Beineix himself.To each his own, but there is a difference between foundering on fabricating a plausible storyline and discarding the conventional narrative arc in preference to its stylish extravaganza. Unfortunately I consider DIVA is a case of former, not just because the source material, Delacorta's novel, is firmly grounded in its entangled involvements of two tapes, an intrepid postman Jules (Andréi) who is a fervid opera fan of singer Cynthia Hawkins (Fernandez), a drug cartel and prostitution ring in Paris, the inept police department, a Taiwanese gang who deals with pirate tapes and a mysterious man Serge Gorodish (Bohringer) with his young Vietnamese lover Alba (Luu), who phlegmatically keeps the upper hand of the dangerous game. More critically, it is a film deceptively imposes itself as an intriguing police procedural and cat-and-mouse chaser, only during the creative process, as if Beineix had lost the competence to juxtapose these paralleled happenings and commotions with a probable consistence, so he would opt out of the imbroglio and execute a visually-impressive strategy instead to dispatch the task, in order to shift the focus from viewers. The sentimental but fickle affinity between Jules and Cynthia is virtually has no bearing in the main plot at all, yet, it is the most enthralling part, as the title infers, we are more tempted to peek the high-strung temperament of a real diva than a shoddily- concocted heroic actioner to disintegrate a criminal cartel established by an evil police officer.The real-life American soprano Ferandez's rendition of Alfredo Catalani's LA WALLY (the only masterpiece he made during his shortened lifespan) is divine and instantly keeps audience hooked, but as a drama actress, her bent is pretty limited, the rest of the dramatis personae is no better, save the enigmatic Bohringer, Serge is a badly written character in the story, ludicrously becomes an omnipresent last-minute saviour and a crafty criminal himself, but what is his back-story? Living in a huge apartment with an eye-opening parade of post-pop art, one might want to watch an entire movie solely based on his exotic way of life with Alba.Equipped with a neon-lit pizazz, its fixation on opera and female nudity, all I can say is that DIVA deserves to be a niche in a time capsule for epitomising the zeitgeist of its time, when most of us have no mood to revisit, in spite of being obtrusively garish and full of far- fetched whims in its vein.

Syl Wilhelmina Fernandez plays an American opera singer who has never recorded her performances. Jules is a Parisian postal carrier and an opera enthusiast who secretly tapes her but for himself. Then there is a second tape by a woman who gets murdered. She has a secret worth killing for. There is entry of suspense and melodrama here especially between the soprano and Jules, an unlikely romance. This film has plenty of memorable moments whether it is the chase in the Metro or the opera scenes. Paris still looks the same as when I last visited it in 2007. Paris is timeless in this early eighties film. I enjoy seeing the opera house and other locations in Paris.

Vihren Mitev A different film. Lovely film typical from the 80's. Interesting because the main character was driving a moped and listening to classical music on it. Another character intoned puzzle as big as the floor of a room, which was the image of a wave against the sky and a little white bird between them. There was a small Chinese girl who wants to be a woman. There was also a black woman, a very good opera singer (the diva!).There was little action, praising record technology and more opera. Interesting scenery, a clash between the highest idealistic forms of human thought with monotonous everyday life giving birth to haters, crimes, corruption, prostitution.It was very art film. But it's worth watching.http://vihrenmitevmovies.blogspot.com/