"Actor: Michel"

• Puccini: Madama Butterfly -- 1974 film version/Von Karajan | DVD | (15/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.79

  Of all Puccinis major operas, the intimate tragedy of Madama Butterfly is least in need of elaborate staging and might therefore benefit most from the close scrutiny of film. The story is domestic, the setting Spartan, the incidental characters kept to a minimum. This 1974 version, however, demonstrates that Butterfly still needs a healthy injection of proscenium arch melodrama. Director Jean-Pierre Ponelles production strives for realism but remains unfortunately studio-bound, having neither the benefit of location filming nor the heightened reality of an opera stage. The exterior is a perpetually fog-shrouded heath of indeterminate locale; the interior is cramped and unadorned. The setting is just too prosaic to contain the epic emotions of grand opera. Thankfully, the cast is superb, headed by Placido Domingos rakish Pinkerton and Mirella Frenis rubicund Butterfly. Their singing is incomparable, as is Herbert von Karajans musical direction of the Vienna Phil. The singers mime to pre-recorded music, which is occasionally disconcerting since when film demands close-ups opera provides broad gestures. Musically, this Butterfly is impeccable. Visually it adds nothing that could not be seen to better effect in a stage version. On the DVD: Madama Butterfly is presented disappointingly on disc in a poor NTSC transfer full of distracting graininess that makes every scene, both inside and out, look like it takes place in an omnipresent drizzle. Sound is reasonable stereo and adequate 5.0 surround. There are subtitles in the major European languages as well as Chinese, and the booklet contains a background essay plus synopsis. --Mark Walker

• Belle De Jour 50th Anniversary | DVD | (02/10/2017) from £8.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Stunningly restored for the 50th anniversary, BELLE DE JOUR is an elegant and erotic masterpiece and undoubtedly Luis Buñuel's most accessible film. Screen icon Catherine Deneuve plays Séverine, the glacially beautiful, sexually unfulfilled wife of a surgeon, whose blood runs icy with ennui until she takes a day-job in a brothel. There she meets a charismatic but sinister young gangster (Pierre Clémenti), and ignites an obsession that will court peril. Buñuel uses diffused lighting, dark colours, and shadows throughout the film to temper the gravity and emotional impact of each uncomfortable scene. Left to our own imaginative devices, the result is a film that is highly unsettling, perverse, and inevitably tragic. SPECIAL FEATURES: The Last Script A Story of Perversion or Emancipation? Interview with Dr Sylvain Mimoun Commentary by Professor Peter W. Evans NEW Interview with Jean-Claude Carrière NEW Masterclass with Diego Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carrière NEW Trailer INCLUDES 6 ARTCARDS

• L'Atalante & The Films Of Jean Vigo | Blu Ray | (22/10/2019) from £18.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  L'Atalante (1934) This intoxicatingly inventive masterpiece is one of the world's great films. A simple and engaging plot is transformed into a kaleidoscope of dazzling digressions and offbeat characterizations complete with tour-de-force scenes that still seem fresh and startling. À propos de Nice (1930) What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Cote d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants. Taris (1931) An Inventive short portrait of a swimming champion. Zero de Conduite (1933) A radical, delightful tale of boarding-school rebellion that has influenced countless film-makers.

• Der alte Mann und das Kind (Le vieil homme et l'enfant) / Bewegendes Filmdrama | DVD | (20/11/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Les Bronzés font du ski | DVD | (06/08/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• TAGEBUCH EINER KAMMERZOFE - MO | DVD | (03/05/2018) from £10.12   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A