Dir. Robert Dornhelm, Austria/Germany, 2008, 100 mins
Cast: Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Nicole Cabell, George von Bergen
Review by Richard Dilks
Filmed opera is still far more common than films of operas: most screen productions are of cameras being pointed at the stage. But with several million euros to spend, those making La Boheme had other options. They have exercised them rather wonderfully.
Director Robert Dornhelm has mainly made documentaries. Here, he set himself to document the performance of two ascendant operatic stars, Anna Netrebko (Mimi) and Rolando Villazón (Rodolfo). Dornhelm sees himself as an observer of them and the opera itself: “It isn't my take, it's Puccini's”.
Mimi and Rodolfo meet in 'Boheme', Puccini's characterisation of artistic poverty chic in 19th century Paris . For a while, Mimi is joined to Rodolfo's raucous gang of Marcello (a round-toned and -bellied George von Bergen), the manipulative slip of a girl that is Nicole Cabell's Musetta, musician Schaunard (Adrian Eröd) and philosopher Colline (Vitaly Kovalyov). The question of who pays the bills in their hang-out, Café Momus, of the power of money amidst creativity, is a decisive strand throughout the opera, whose heart is nevertheless with the tumultuous love affair between the Mimi and Rodolfo.
Dornhelm's early career “was the opposite of the artifice of opera”. But using his documentary experience to give the impression of standing back to observe reaps great rewards here. The score's and stars' talents sing for themselves: Puccini's opera remains charming and affecting.
Netrebko and Villazón are outrageously talented. Their singing, technically superb, is saturated with emotive interpretation. They are supreme operatic actors. They also turn out to be great operatic actors for the screen. Netrebko says that for the screen “you have to take emotions inside yourself and let them shine through the eyes”. Exactly.
The scene where Mimi and Rodolfo clinch their infatuation on a staircase is transfixing. The heat of Villazón's voice, its vivacity and directness, the placing of the camera, and their acting, make the moment course through you; the sound from their mouths, inches apart, entwining around them and us.
The artifice of this La Boheme is that of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. No attempt at direct realism is made, but the plasticky stone and studio snow of Filmstadt Wien match opera's self-conscious showiness.
The recording is a blend of a concert performance (Munich, April 2007) and live sound from the set. But the actors did sing every take, whether or not that sound ended up being used. Dornhelm describes mouthing to the music as “like boxing with one arm tied behind your back”.
Dornhelm sees doors closing and footsteps as “percussion” in the soundtrack, which is exactly right. As the cinema has more overt control of the audience than an opera house does, it must work hard for that. 'La Boheme' delivers here, respecting its audience by understanding that, just as the singers and scores have their breathing rhythms, so must this film as an element in its own right.
Villazón is right in saying that “film looks the same, but it's not”. The triumph of this creation of 'La Boheme' is its harnessing of the talents of the piece itself, the cast's operatic talents and, in last place, the power of cinema. For here cinema is at the service of La Boheme, Puccini Rolando Villazón, Anna Netrebko and the cast – and wisely so.
The extras on the disc comprise a making of, which packs a lot in and is judiciously edited to not lapse into tedium; interviews with all four leads, which are more intermittently rewarding; and an interview with the director which takes a while to get going, but is worth it when it does.
La Boheme is released on DVD Region 2 on 2nd March 2009.
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