- Actors: Anne-Sophie Schmidt, Valérie Millot, Nadine Denize, Patricia Petibon, Hedwig Fassbender
- Directors: Don Kent
- Writers: Emmet Lavery, Georges Bernanos
- Format: Anamorphic, Classical, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Import
- Language: French
- Subtitles: English, Japanese
- Region: All Regions
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Arthaus Musik
- Release Date: Nov 1 2000
- Run Time: 156 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000053GTD
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
French composer Francis Poulenc was both an ardent Catholic and a free-loving homosexual, making the achievement of his intensely personal opera, Dialogues des Carmélites, even more remarkable. Although widely known as a mere purveyor of endlessly charming and witty music (including some of the most perfectly constructed songs of the entire 20th century), Poulenc also wrote many substantial compositions, of which the three-act Carmélites ranks highest. Based on Georges Bernanos's story about young Blanche, a selfless nun martyred along with the rest of her convent during the French Revolution, Carmélites, thanks to its composer's considerable musical and dramatic skills, is one of the most emotionally direct and unapologetically moral of all modern operas.
For this 1999 production at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, France, actress-turned-director Marthe Keller does a superlative job of conveying Poulenc's intentions. Her spare staging effectively evokes the austere world of the cloistered nuns, and there are many striking images, notably the opera's final tragic moments when the women literally drop, one by one, to the musical sound of the guillotine's blade. In a first-rate cast, Anne Sophie Schmidt is an especially touching Blanche, and conductor Jan Latham-Koenig has masterly control over the emotional ebb and flow of Poulenc's score. The DVD sound is full and rich, the subtitles are adequate, and Don Kent's video direction includes visual felicities--like slow-motion, still images, and black and white--that underscore the preordained doom without overdoing it. --Kevin Filipski
From the Back Cover
On Janurary 17, 1999, the Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg staged the premiere of a production of Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites on the occasion of the French composer's 100th birthday. In Summer 1999, the production was also performed at the Finnish opera festival in Savonlinna. The French theater and film actress Marthe Keller was the director, the stage set was created by Jean-Pierre Capeyron, and Florence Emir created the costumes. The press lauded the Strasbourg production, which corresponded closely with Poulenc's intentions and expressed the entire originality and spiritual message of his opera score; it also focused on the conducting of Jan Latham-Koenig, an outstanding connoisseur of French music, and the superb achievement of Anne-Sophie Schmidt in the title role.
Le marquis de la Force - Didier Henry
Blanche de la Force - Anne Sophie Schmidt
Le Chevalier de la Force - Laurence Dale
Madame de Croissy - Nadine Denize
Madame Lidoine - Valerie Millot
Orchestre Philmarmonique de Strasbourg
Choers de L'Opera national du Rhin
Conductor - Jan Latham-Koenig
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do better, ArtHaus!,
By Scott Andrew Hutchins (Bronx, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Poulenc;Francis Dialogues Des (DVD)
This is one of the most powerful opera productions I've ever seen, hindered by poor quality video and audio. the audio isn't as bad as on their DVD of Salieri's _Falstaff_, where the speakers sound constantly overloaded, though it's still a problem. The digital artifacting is even worse. It's a great opera, powerfully staged and filmed, but it looks like a budget DVD that ought to sell for $3.99. They're taking advantage of opera fans on the assumption that they are rich, and putting out shoddily authored DVDs of great productions. Unless they do a serious reauthoring of the disc, I'll try to find it used, whcih isn't bloody likely. The presentation quality isn't worth what they're asking for it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting opera, lovely performance,
By
This review is from: Poulenc;Francis Dialogues Des (DVD)
Enjoy this essentials-only poetic production. There are many heart rending moments here and the music is simply entrancing.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent for Minimalist Staging,
By "arvin200" (Edina. MN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Poulenc;Francis Dialogues Des (DVD)
This opera doesn't lose much from minimalist staging, which is exactly what it gets in the Opera du Rhin's production. I compare it to a production that the Lyric Opera of Boston did a few years ago, also minimalist, and equally effective. It's all psychology, fear of life versus fear of death, religious conviction versus the expedience of bowing to the popular will, etc. None of this requires elaborate sets or costumes. All that matters are the singers' voices and mannerisms, and in this production they are more than adequate. Not every opera has to be a Met extravaganza to work.
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