As written by the legendary French composer Georges Bizet, the 19th-century opera “Carmen” has a classic femme fatale at its heart: a fiery, free-spirited and seductive woman headed for her inevitable demise through the downfall of a former lover. So take it with a grain of salt upon hearing the title “Carmen,” in this case a beautiful, dreamlike and defiantly experimental film directed by Benjamin Millepied.
Yes, the tragedy, beauty, love, and passion that define Bizet’s exquisite late Romantic-era masterpiece are all in here in Millepied’s directorial debut. But Millepied’s runaway Carmen, as imagined by writers Loïc Barrere, Alexander Dinelaris and Lisa Loomer, is not so much a doomed temptress archetype as a freedom-hungry firebrand in search of her voice and identity.
In that regard, it would be unfair to claim that Millepied’s “Carmen” is an adaptation of Bizet’s timeless story. In fact, the director...
Yes, the tragedy, beauty, love, and passion that define Bizet’s exquisite late Romantic-era masterpiece are all in here in Millepied’s directorial debut. But Millepied’s runaway Carmen, as imagined by writers Loïc Barrere, Alexander Dinelaris and Lisa Loomer, is not so much a doomed temptress archetype as a freedom-hungry firebrand in search of her voice and identity.
In that regard, it would be unfair to claim that Millepied’s “Carmen” is an adaptation of Bizet’s timeless story. In fact, the director...
- 4/21/2023
- by Tomris Laffly
- The Wrap
Chemistry is important on and off the black-and-white pages of a screenplay with a romantic story at its core. Benjamin Millepied extracts every ounce of it from the paper and fills every inch of the screen with it in his feature film debut. Carmen is deeply felt, but it’s a tad too narratively lacking to carry those feelings for very long after the credits are finished rolling.
‘Carmen’ re-imagines a classic opera L-r: Melissa Barrera as Carmen and Paul Mescal as Aidan | Sony Pictures Classics
Carmen (Melissa Barrera) searches for freedom in a re-imagining of Loïc Barrère’s opera. She must flee from the Mexican desert that she’s accustomed to and search out her mother’s longtime friend for help. However, Carmen encounters the U.S. Border Patrol once she crosses into Texas, who are searching for anybody to unleash their violent hatred upon.
Along the way, she...
‘Carmen’ re-imagines a classic opera L-r: Melissa Barrera as Carmen and Paul Mescal as Aidan | Sony Pictures Classics
Carmen (Melissa Barrera) searches for freedom in a re-imagining of Loïc Barrère’s opera. She must flee from the Mexican desert that she’s accustomed to and search out her mother’s longtime friend for help. However, Carmen encounters the U.S. Border Patrol once she crosses into Texas, who are searching for anybody to unleash their violent hatred upon.
Along the way, she...
- 4/18/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Bizet's "Carmen," the classic opera about a naïve soldier who falls for the titular Carmen (it doesn't end happily) is one of the most widely known of all time. French choreographer-turned-director Benjamin Millepied's new take on it, in his directorial debut, is a modernized and almost complete reimagining of the material. It is far less of an adaptation than it is an impressionistic, and often beautiful, "Carmen"-inspired outing, one set in a North American context and full of youth and vigor. If you want passionate dance and thematic modernity, and you're none too keen on surplus or even necessary dialogue, this is the "Carmen" for you.
It's interesting, because in many ways "Carmen" is doing something that's been widely advocated and rarely truly practiced. Hitchcock famously advocated filmmakers rely mostly on visual storytelling, emphasizing to Truffaut that a screenplay should, whenever possible, "rely more on the visual than the dialogue.
It's interesting, because in many ways "Carmen" is doing something that's been widely advocated and rarely truly practiced. Hitchcock famously advocated filmmakers rely mostly on visual storytelling, emphasizing to Truffaut that a screenplay should, whenever possible, "rely more on the visual than the dialogue.
- 4/17/2023
- by Jeff Ewing
- Slash Film
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