Stumbling upon this film by accident - looking in Radio Times and seeing a production of Rigoletto, I expected something different - I must admit to being titillated by some of the nudity and ravished by some of the colour. The sets are excellent (a strange but effective cross between 60s and retro modern), and many of the camera angles are brilliantly chosen. The cast look good too (although the foolish thought did occur to me that if you are casting a famously virile lover for a full frontal nude role you might inquire as to the size of his membrum virile). And of course, sublime music. The problem, though, is that there clearly weren't enough good opera singers prepared to cavort in some cold corner of the Netherlands with no clothes on. I know from experience that miming opera when you can see close-ups is a very difficult task, and the performers in Rigoletto make a generally very disappointing attempt at it. There is also at least one absolutely risible piece of nudity, which strangely ruins the effect of the justifiable sexuality and nudity in the rest of the piece. Worth seeing, though, for an interesting visual take on a magnificent work.
6 Reviews
The singing vulva (or W Bush)
Gyran6 April 2005
Publicity for this film suggests that it is shocking and sensational. Well, we opera lovers see some strange sights in opera houses so we are not shocked by the Duke of Mantua urinating during his reprise of La Donna è Mobile, nor is it sensational to see Gilda sing Caro Nome in the bath. It is just crass and boring. What stands out about this film is its lack of imagination. Director Corina Van Eijk sets the Duke's palace in a seedy swimming pool. In fact, he is not the Duke, he is just a character named Duka, so it's difficult to see why he has lots of hangers-on and his own jester, Rigoletto. Rigoletto lives in a council flat that is furnished with the orange sofa and decorated in the spotted wallpaper that is de rigeur among avant-garde directors.The Duke's, sorry Duka's heavies ride around on motor scooters (Yawn).
Concepts imposed on an opera like this can produce unexpected, and unintentional humour. What can we make of the fact that Gilda has a maid, even though she lives in a council flat.? When the call goes out that Monterone is being taken to prison we see him being marched out of the swimming pool by two attendants in pink shorts. One imagines that he is going to be charged with urinating in a public swimming pool.
It was common for opera films to be lip-synced 20 years ago but there is just no excuse for it today. A dubbed opera is like soft porn. You don't believe in what is happening because the performers are not making enough effort. The actress in Gilda's role does not seem to have learned her lines properly. She barely moves her lips when she is supposed to be singing. When she sings Caro Nome in the bath she lies back with her legs slightly parted. It is difficult to tell which orifice the sound is supposed to be emanating from. The Duke, later caps this by singing while engaging in cunnilingus with Maddalena, giving a new meaning to the phrase yodelling in the canyon.
The ambiance of the sound never seems right with the orchestra sometimes sounding as though it is being played through a transistor radio. Fairly slow, rumpity-tumpity tempi are preferred so that the overall effect is of a karaoke in your local pub.
This is a film of a production by Opera Spanga. Spanga is a village in Friesland in the Netherlands. They normally perform in a tent in a field. If I had been watching this performance in a tent in a field in Friesland I would have been fairly indulgent. By filming this production and giving it a worldwide audience, the villagers also hold themselves open to worldwide ridicule.
Concepts imposed on an opera like this can produce unexpected, and unintentional humour. What can we make of the fact that Gilda has a maid, even though she lives in a council flat.? When the call goes out that Monterone is being taken to prison we see him being marched out of the swimming pool by two attendants in pink shorts. One imagines that he is going to be charged with urinating in a public swimming pool.
It was common for opera films to be lip-synced 20 years ago but there is just no excuse for it today. A dubbed opera is like soft porn. You don't believe in what is happening because the performers are not making enough effort. The actress in Gilda's role does not seem to have learned her lines properly. She barely moves her lips when she is supposed to be singing. When she sings Caro Nome in the bath she lies back with her legs slightly parted. It is difficult to tell which orifice the sound is supposed to be emanating from. The Duke, later caps this by singing while engaging in cunnilingus with Maddalena, giving a new meaning to the phrase yodelling in the canyon.
The ambiance of the sound never seems right with the orchestra sometimes sounding as though it is being played through a transistor radio. Fairly slow, rumpity-tumpity tempi are preferred so that the overall effect is of a karaoke in your local pub.
This is a film of a production by Opera Spanga. Spanga is a village in Friesland in the Netherlands. They normally perform in a tent in a field. If I had been watching this performance in a tent in a field in Friesland I would have been fairly indulgent. By filming this production and giving it a worldwide audience, the villagers also hold themselves open to worldwide ridicule.
Why? Why? Why?
rps-211 July 2005
Rigoletto is Verdi's masterpiece, full of drama, emotion and powerful, memorable music. The maestro must have rolled in his grave when this bawdy travesty of his work was released with its needless frontal nudity and cheap copulating and its portrayal of the naive but principalled Gilda as a horny ditz. Opera certainly can be adapted to cinema --- look at Zeferelli's magnificent La Traviata --- but when a work is as superb as Rigoletto, it doesn't need cheap gimmicks. It might even have been acceptable if the dubbed in music had been good but it is a mediocre rendering of the libretto with second rate sound quality at that.
The worst Rigoletto I've seen
TheLittleSongbird17 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I just want to say I love opera and Rigoletto is one of my favourites of all time. But I was really disappointed with this. The only redeeming qualities for me were the sublime music and the clever camera work.
Other than that, this Rigoletto is a mess and so far is the only Rigoletto I don't like. I try not to be a purist, but I didn't like the staging or how the characters were portrayed. When it comes to staging, it was either very unimaginative or left a bad taste in the mouth.
Gilda singing Caro Nomme in the bath is more the former than the latter, however seeing the Duke urinating during La Donna E Mobile, his men on motor scooters and the attendants in pink shorts as they march Monterone out didn't bode well with me. Of course I've seen some bizarre staging before but most of these occasions are not as unintentionally funny, unimaginative or gimmicky as the staging here.
The nudity is also a turn off. I don't mind that there is some in the first scene for example as it sets the scene in a sense, but the nudity is excessive and unnecessary here. Also some scenes don't have the impact they should. The only one to come close is Cortigiani, and even that's not close enough. The meeting between Rigoletto and Sparafucile is lacking too, the atmosphere is dull and Sparafucile isn't sinister enough. The climatic trio is one of the highlights of the opera, and due to the ambiance and the lack of drama it was stripped off its intensity.
I also felt some of the characters' personalities were taken to extreme levels. One was the Duke. Here he is made so cynical and so unlikeable, that by Parmi Veder Lagrime I didn't feel any sympathy or poignancy for him. Faring worst is Gilda. This is a very naive albeit principled character, but did Verdi ever intend for her to be as ditsy as she is here? Personally I don't think so.
Usually I don't have a problem with updating, but I am not so forgiving when the production in question doesn't fit with the opera's tone, which is the case here. I did find Rigoletto's flat decorations on the garish side, and the meeting between him and Sparafucile was in warranting of a more foreboding setting.
Aside from the camera work, I wasn't impressed with the technical aspects. Of note here are the lip synching and the sound. In regard to the lip synching, the worst case is that of Gilda, it is so sloppy I got a sense the actress didn't know her lines very well. The sound doesn't do the orchestra justice, it makes them sound distant. The conducting also sounds very plodding, making the normally touching duets with Gilda and Rigoletto dull.
The performances don't fare much better. The most consistent is Peter Michailov's Rigoletto, a very moving and conscientiously sung performance. Gilda is sung with just the right amount of agility, but the actress looks lost and disengaged. The Duke is made to do some of the more distasteful parts of the staging, and his uneasiness of doing it shows.
Parmi Veder Lagrime doesn't have the pathos it should, due to the extremes gone to make the character overly-cynical, we know he is a seedy character, we don't need obvious staging to emphasise this and then strip bare the one scene where he shows any genuine love. The sound not only undermines the music, but also the Duke's singing, his singing with Maddalena and in the quartet has a yodelling quality to it.
Sparafucile disappoints too, physically he is imposing but in the acting he is not sinister enough for my tastes and the singing lacks resonance and security in pitch. Overall, a mess of a Rigoletto and not recommended. 1/10 Bethany Cox
Other than that, this Rigoletto is a mess and so far is the only Rigoletto I don't like. I try not to be a purist, but I didn't like the staging or how the characters were portrayed. When it comes to staging, it was either very unimaginative or left a bad taste in the mouth.
Gilda singing Caro Nomme in the bath is more the former than the latter, however seeing the Duke urinating during La Donna E Mobile, his men on motor scooters and the attendants in pink shorts as they march Monterone out didn't bode well with me. Of course I've seen some bizarre staging before but most of these occasions are not as unintentionally funny, unimaginative or gimmicky as the staging here.
The nudity is also a turn off. I don't mind that there is some in the first scene for example as it sets the scene in a sense, but the nudity is excessive and unnecessary here. Also some scenes don't have the impact they should. The only one to come close is Cortigiani, and even that's not close enough. The meeting between Rigoletto and Sparafucile is lacking too, the atmosphere is dull and Sparafucile isn't sinister enough. The climatic trio is one of the highlights of the opera, and due to the ambiance and the lack of drama it was stripped off its intensity.
I also felt some of the characters' personalities were taken to extreme levels. One was the Duke. Here he is made so cynical and so unlikeable, that by Parmi Veder Lagrime I didn't feel any sympathy or poignancy for him. Faring worst is Gilda. This is a very naive albeit principled character, but did Verdi ever intend for her to be as ditsy as she is here? Personally I don't think so.
Usually I don't have a problem with updating, but I am not so forgiving when the production in question doesn't fit with the opera's tone, which is the case here. I did find Rigoletto's flat decorations on the garish side, and the meeting between him and Sparafucile was in warranting of a more foreboding setting.
Aside from the camera work, I wasn't impressed with the technical aspects. Of note here are the lip synching and the sound. In regard to the lip synching, the worst case is that of Gilda, it is so sloppy I got a sense the actress didn't know her lines very well. The sound doesn't do the orchestra justice, it makes them sound distant. The conducting also sounds very plodding, making the normally touching duets with Gilda and Rigoletto dull.
The performances don't fare much better. The most consistent is Peter Michailov's Rigoletto, a very moving and conscientiously sung performance. Gilda is sung with just the right amount of agility, but the actress looks lost and disengaged. The Duke is made to do some of the more distasteful parts of the staging, and his uneasiness of doing it shows.
Parmi Veder Lagrime doesn't have the pathos it should, due to the extremes gone to make the character overly-cynical, we know he is a seedy character, we don't need obvious staging to emphasise this and then strip bare the one scene where he shows any genuine love. The sound not only undermines the music, but also the Duke's singing, his singing with Maddalena and in the quartet has a yodelling quality to it.
Sparafucile disappoints too, physically he is imposing but in the acting he is not sinister enough for my tastes and the singing lacks resonance and security in pitch. Overall, a mess of a Rigoletto and not recommended. 1/10 Bethany Cox
Very successful updating of Rigoletto story (significant nudity) DVD is again available
mfbix8 August 2005
Re-released in 2008, this film is available commercially on a PAL DVD from Amazon.fr and Amazon.co.uk.; an NTSC DVD of the original Dutch TV broadcast formerly was available from PremiereOpera.com in a homemade recording converted from PAL to NTSC; the color, the look of the production, and the sound are so important that I found the NTSC DVD markedly less enjoyable than the commercial PAL DVD.
To my taste, this is a very successful updating of Rigoletto into the present day (plot summary says 1960's, exemplified by the furnishings and clothing, but the casual cocaine use looks more present day to me). It is very carefully and vividly produced as a feature film by the Dutch company Opera Spanga. There are some flashes of humor in the film--most notably in the unexpected parody of Leo the Lion at the beginning of the film. There is a significant amount of frontal female and male nudity and simulated sex. I found these extremely effective because Rigoletto really is quite a rough story with a large sexual component.(I would say the story of the opera is actually about sex and sexual attraction.) The final act with the quartet and the killing of Gilda is riveting.
Verdi considered the Victor Hugo play on which Rigoletto was based to be "one of the greatest creations of the modern theater" (it was removed from the Paris stage after one performance in 1832 for political and moral reasons). Performance of the initial libretto was banned by the Venice police censors, citing the "disgusting immorality and obscene triviality" of the libretto. The first re-write was rejected by Verdi because it eliminated "everything that was original and powerful". The second re-write made the politically crucial change of setting and eliminated some of the more flagrantly libertine passages of the original. Other reviewers here have condemned the vulgarity and inappropriateness of this production. To me, this production seems much closer to what Verdi would have wanted if it had been possible at the time. For a laughably innocuous production see the 2001 Arena di Verona (TDK DVD). The 2000 Royal Opera production (Opus Arte DVD) would be an excellent choice for someone squeamish about so much sex on the screen (though there is still brief full frontal female and male nudity in the first act).
The production is the thing here, but the quality of the singing, the acting, the orchestral playing and the conducting are completely satisfactory and enjoyable. Dolby 5.1 audio and widescreen-only video quality are very high.
To my taste, this is a very successful updating of Rigoletto into the present day (plot summary says 1960's, exemplified by the furnishings and clothing, but the casual cocaine use looks more present day to me). It is very carefully and vividly produced as a feature film by the Dutch company Opera Spanga. There are some flashes of humor in the film--most notably in the unexpected parody of Leo the Lion at the beginning of the film. There is a significant amount of frontal female and male nudity and simulated sex. I found these extremely effective because Rigoletto really is quite a rough story with a large sexual component.(I would say the story of the opera is actually about sex and sexual attraction.) The final act with the quartet and the killing of Gilda is riveting.
Verdi considered the Victor Hugo play on which Rigoletto was based to be "one of the greatest creations of the modern theater" (it was removed from the Paris stage after one performance in 1832 for political and moral reasons). Performance of the initial libretto was banned by the Venice police censors, citing the "disgusting immorality and obscene triviality" of the libretto. The first re-write was rejected by Verdi because it eliminated "everything that was original and powerful". The second re-write made the politically crucial change of setting and eliminated some of the more flagrantly libertine passages of the original. Other reviewers here have condemned the vulgarity and inappropriateness of this production. To me, this production seems much closer to what Verdi would have wanted if it had been possible at the time. For a laughably innocuous production see the 2001 Arena di Verona (TDK DVD). The 2000 Royal Opera production (Opus Arte DVD) would be an excellent choice for someone squeamish about so much sex on the screen (though there is still brief full frontal female and male nudity in the first act).
The production is the thing here, but the quality of the singing, the acting, the orchestral playing and the conducting are completely satisfactory and enjoyable. Dolby 5.1 audio and widescreen-only video quality are very high.
A Thoroughly modern version of Verdi's masterpiece - Almost film Noir - Parody?
h-kesteloo12 November 2004
I had to drive 150 km to see this movie. It was a warm august summer evening in the middle of typical Dutch landscape, between farms, water and cows. Here 'Opera Spanga' celebrates it's yearly opera performance, usually live productions. The year 2003 was very special. Rigoletto was filmed and the cinema was a temporary open air in the middle of typical Dutch landscape. I was prepared and had my boots on............
The film was shocking, full of humor & nudity. This movie is already cult and is an absolute must to see one. The story is the original one, but time-period is a modern play mainly around a swimming pool. The singer even sings under water or while driving a motor bike or while making love to a hooker, as she is sniffing cocaine.
The scenery reminds me of the best days of the flower power period 1967. Colored furniture, glossy walls in pink and purple. The performance is solid in Italian. The film is full of surprising humor, sometimes shocking. Surely not what anybody expects to see when he goes for the opera Rigoletto.
Rigoletto, whose job embroils him in the perverse world of the Duca, tries to shield his daughter Gilda from the nature of his work at all costs. His paternal love has such a suffocating effect on Gilda, however, that she has no option but to make a "fatal" escape.
Whenever you have the opportunity to see this movie. Do not expect to see Verdi's Opera, as it should be. This is something entirely different.
This film will be banned soon by many opera-houses. The DVD should be among cult films, not within any classical section. I have placed mine next to Andy Warhol, Passolini, Fellini or Monty Python. This is hard to archive.........
My all time favorite Opera film. I heard that Corina van Eijk is working on a new project. I cannot understand why she's not allowed to enter most opera houses.
I liked a lot for what she's hated for..
The film was shocking, full of humor & nudity. This movie is already cult and is an absolute must to see one. The story is the original one, but time-period is a modern play mainly around a swimming pool. The singer even sings under water or while driving a motor bike or while making love to a hooker, as she is sniffing cocaine.
The scenery reminds me of the best days of the flower power period 1967. Colored furniture, glossy walls in pink and purple. The performance is solid in Italian. The film is full of surprising humor, sometimes shocking. Surely not what anybody expects to see when he goes for the opera Rigoletto.
Rigoletto, whose job embroils him in the perverse world of the Duca, tries to shield his daughter Gilda from the nature of his work at all costs. His paternal love has such a suffocating effect on Gilda, however, that she has no option but to make a "fatal" escape.
Whenever you have the opportunity to see this movie. Do not expect to see Verdi's Opera, as it should be. This is something entirely different.
This film will be banned soon by many opera-houses. The DVD should be among cult films, not within any classical section. I have placed mine next to Andy Warhol, Passolini, Fellini or Monty Python. This is hard to archive.........
My all time favorite Opera film. I heard that Corina van Eijk is working on a new project. I cannot understand why she's not allowed to enter most opera houses.
I liked a lot for what she's hated for..
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