Kirpianuscus
for music, atmosphere and costumes. for few scenes. as introduction to the spirit of a period. and for the remind of the traits of Baroque. one of films who remains a must see for the aesthetic virtues. maybe, in same measure, for the good intentions. because, except the case of "castratti", it is only a story of a music star. with same sins and virtues and half truths. with the same impressive clash between art and near reality. showing the same vulnerability of a selfish hero of scene. so, a beautiful film. but not more.
TheLittleSongbird
Farinelli may not to me be perfect, the sex scenes do get too much and I didn't find the lip synching to be anywhere near convincing as you can tell that the singing was not coming out of the actor. There are plenty of positives though. I personally did find the drama engrossing, true it isn't faithful from a historical standpoint, then again I can't think of any biopic of a musician or composer that didn't take some kind of liberty with the truth, but Farinelli is an emotionally-charged film and there was plenty of that. That is also true of the writing, which flows well and didn't feel jarring. The film looks spectacular, the costumes and sets are gorgeous to look at and is shot and directed beautifully. I have no faults with the music either, it is so good that my appreciation for early music further grew. The singing is equally wonderful, the scene in the theatre with the long high note was unbelievable. Stefano Dionisi is magnetic in the title role, Enrico Lo Verso brings intensity to the role of the "less talented" brother, Marianne Cellier has a very expressive face and Jereon Knabbe gives one of his best ever performances positively relishing his role as Handel(even if you question whether Handel was really like that). All in all, a very good film, fascinating and a visual and musical feast. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Bill Mansfield-Bennett
This remarkable film remains one of my favourites. The story line at first left me wondering why the director had chosen to make the film in the first place. Luscious scenery, beautiful costumes, sets, extravagant, but historically accurate stagings for the opera scenes, great language and dialogue - but why make a film about an all but forgotten singer from almost three centuries ago? Nothing in the film seemed to give a clue as to why anyone would go to all the bother of reconstructing a marvelous voice so painstakingly, and choose one of the great performers of our time to oversee the performances of the music. Repeated viewings did not seem to throw any light on the vexing question that, despite all the lushness and splendour I was still missing some point to the whole exercise. It was only on the third or fourth viewing that I noticed in the opening credits a small remark - in French - "to the memory of my daughter . . "name"". Suddenly the whole thing made sense. This marvelous and true story of the castrato is, perhaps, the directors attempt to describe his impotence in the face of the loss of his beloved child. Viewed in this light the ending of the film and the sequences in London between Farinelli and Benedict finally begin to have a poignancy and a sadness that is truly stunningly and sensitively achieved whilst adding to the story line. I love this film and cannot possibly recommend it enough. Any lover of Early Music should revel in it, but it has been lifted out of the ordinary and into the universal and sublime by that one small realization. Superlatives cannot do it justice.
pianys
The first time I watched this film the subtitles didn´t work, but I wasstill hooked on its beauty and emotion. After a proper viewing Iwent straight out and bought the soundtrack - and I´m totally notinto opera. The scene where Farinelli sings Händel sent suchhuge shivers down my spine and tears down my face.The story itself may not be entirely historically correct (when wasever filmmaking all about facts and figures?), but the tale about Farinelli is captivating to say the least. The castrato singers wereboth worshipped and shunned by society, loved for their heavenlyvoices and scorned for their lost manhood.Michael Jackson is the obvious modern day comparison, but I´dsay that´s not fair to Farinelli. Check out this film, enjoy the music,and learn that extreme celebrity is not a new thing!
AD
