"Actor: Lisa Larsson"

• You the Living | DVD | (14/07/2008) from £7.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the funniest and most original films of the year this absurd and surreal comedy from acclaimed director Roy Andersson takes an amusing left-of-centre look at a delightfully eccentric assortment of characters. Through a series of brilliantly entertaining sketches Andersson observes with empathy and wry humour the highs lows and tragicomic happenings that affect their everyday lives. Shot with highly distinctive visual flair this unique and universally resonant snapshot of modern life is both touching and laugh-outloud hilarious.

• Offenbach: La Belle Helene -- Zurich/Harnoncourt | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £34.31   |  Saving you £-9.32 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélene, which pokes fun at the Parisian upper class of a century and a half ago through tales of ancient Greece, requires a leap of imagination on behalf of today's audience that this production only partly succeeds in reconciling. On musical grounds we're on sure footing. Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Zurich Opera House with his customary flair for precise and taut rhythms and an appreciation of the composer's wit and the good tunes that are a-plenty. His multi-national cast headed by Vesselina Kasarova as Helen of Troy and Deon van der Walt as her lover Paris are excellent and among the smaller parts there's a lively and stylish performance from Liliana Nichiteanus as Oreste. The video direction by Hartmut Schroder and the superb sound obtained from the relatively intimate Zurich Opera House, a delightful setting for this operetta, are further assets. The production alas is unenlightening and perpetrates an over-the-top style that seems to be synonymous with Offenbach. The backdrop, a pink concave awning is hideous. The costumes by designer Jean-Charles de Castelibajac are silly: Paris is dressed in lederhosen and looks a twerp, Calchac, the high priest wears a Ku Klux Klan hat and Helen at one point looks as though she'll take to absailing. Kasarova suggests the lure of Helen in her voice but a beauty she's not. So it's left to Harnoncourt who joins the company at the curtain call with a twinkle in his eye and a nifty side step and his superb orchestra to remind us what might have been. --Adrian Edwards

• Don Giovanni - Mozart | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Don Giovanni - Opera in two acts. A production of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Recorded in July 2002.