La Boheme: The Film
by Robert Dornhelm
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DVD details
Actor: Anna Netrebko, Bertrand de Billy, Rolando VillazonDirector: Robert Dornhelm
Brand: Kultur
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.1
Format: Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-12-15
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: KULTUR VIDEO
DVD Reviews of La Boheme: The Film
DVD Review: Artificiale
Summary: 2 Stars
The director, Robert Dornhelm (whose immediately previous contribution to classical-music filmmaking was a fine Karajan documentary released for the maestro's centenary), comes armed with many ideas about how to "open out" BOHÈME for cinematic purposes, and to put his stamp on it. During the opening Rodolfo/Marcello exchanges, we glimpse Mimì in her room, eavesdropping. Dornhelm returns to her a little later as she considers her course of action. Later she lingers in the hallway, waiting for the other Bohemians to clear out. By the time she actually confronts Rodolfo, we understand she has had her cap set for him for some time. This idea would be unwieldy in a stage production, of course; but having seen it perpetrated here, I see no gain whatsoever, and am grateful it has not occurred to any director in my prior experience. Does Dornhelm imagine that Mimì becomes more interesting and "modern" if she's made calculating and shrewd? Hasn't the first meeting in the dark between these two simple people always been touching in part *because* of the element of chance, and the heroine's sweet artlessness? Whatever the case, in Dornhelm's film, the two young lovers do make it to bed following their first famous duet. How long Rodolfo's friends are kept waiting at Café Momus, and what the amount of time might say about our poet's prowess, at least are left to the imagination.
The inspirations keep coming. As Schaunard tells the story of his day, we see it in flashback (black and white except for the bright colors of the Englishman's ill-fated parrot). At the start of Act IV, the beginning of Marcello and Rodolfo's scene is moved to the street; they continue their conversation as they walk to their flat. There are more remembrances, adjustments, overlays, composites, even modest visual effects (ersatz clouds whizzing by, glimpsed through the loft's windows). The film is all "touches" and "notions" -- a surfeit of them -- and the finished product is clunky, labored, and ultimately unmoving, because more important work has been left undone. If Dornhelm has any gift at all for directing actors, it is well hidden here: with one exception, the cast's performances range from anonymous to embarrassing.
The exception is Anna Netrebko, whose physical performance as Mimì is subtle, conscientious, and perfectly scaled to the camera. That beguiling dark lyric voice is in fine shape, and the part suits her well -- better than the florid music of the bel canto heroines she often essays. Her partner, Rolando Villazón as Rodolfo, pops his eyes, gestures broadly, and puts on a show of frightful overacting. He can be guilty of the same things on stage, and probably even in his daily life. But live theater is a different medium with its own rules and reasonable allowances, and Villazón has demonstrated for directors such as Vincent Paterson (MANON) that he can rein himself in when the material and the production call for it. Here, he's at his big-projecting stagiest against a would-be naturalistic milieu, with a female lead who is more camera-savvy, and it all makes for a terribly uncomfortable fit. I am not sure where the recording of the soundtrack fell within the chronology of Villazón's 2007 vocal crisis, his attempted comeback, and his 2009 vocal crisis, but knowledge of his struggles makes his tentative or hard-pressed moments stand out in sharper relief. His future remains uncertain at this writing, and it will be a great shame if this tenor, who began so promisingly, lives down to the gloomiest predictions circulating. There are long stretches of attractive and persuasive singing here, but he cannot be said to sound at his best, and he and Netrebko do not demonstrate their vaunted chemistry as much as one anticipates. Their passionate display near the end of Act I is a sterile and choreographed affair, not helped by the director's silly camera angles, which suggest a parody of a perfume ad.
Among the rest of the cast, Vitalij Kowaljow (a surly Colline) and Nicole Cabell (Musetta, more comic minx than alluring siren) do well with the Coat Song and the inescapable Waltz, respectively. George von Bergen acts the Marcello sung by Boaz Daniel; Adrian Erod stands in for Stéphane Degout's Schaunard -- none makes a striking impression. The talented conductor Bertrand de Billy, leading the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, is only workmanlike here; it is not a reading long on poetry, affection, or individuality, nor one evincing the greatest sensitivity to the singers.
Technical shortcomings are as numerous as directorial gimmicks: post-synchronization is little better than that seen in Ponelle's opera films of almost 40 years ago. The blocking is rudimentary and the editing jagged, most of all in Act I. On the basis of this DVD, I would have guessed the film to be two decades older than it is; the quality is muted and dingy, and I hope it looked better in theaters. (If it did, the transfer has been botched by the DVD label, Kultur...which would be no surprise. I dread to see their name attached to anything I plan to buy, and have previously suggested their slogan be "When You're Glad To Get It At All" or "Kultur DVD: Striving For Adequacy Since 1997.") The translation provided in the optional English subtitles is so heavily condensed as to be barely adequate. In protecting viewers from having to read more than a few words at a time, and neglecting to translate lines deemed "nonessential," the responsible parties have deprived us English speakers of much humor, detail, and verbal nuance.
In fairness, there are things here that do work: I believe Act III comes off the best, because Dornhelm is at his least fussy there, Villazón is relatively restrained, Netrebko as touching as ever; and amidst this confluence, we hit one of several patches of Puccini that are close to bulletproof. Still, one can do better. For Netrebko and Villazón together, stick with the Virgin L'ELISIR D'AMORE or the DG MANON. For a film of BOHÈME, the 1967 Karajan/Zeffirelli (on DG) is more interestingly conducted and overall better sung (it even has the better Mimì -- Netrebko is an exotic and intriguing visitor to this musical world, but the young Mirella Freni actually lived there). The 1967 too has shortcomings, but Dornhelm's film duplicates them all, with fewer compensations. For a DVD of BOHÈME in general, go with one of the Met performances available on DG, with the slightly later Stratas/Carreras having an edge on the Scotto/Pavarotti. An honorable mention goes to the 1989 San Francisco performance (Kultur again, alas), a late-career reteaming of Freni and Pavarotti in a beautiful and perceptive Francesca Zambello production. Dornhelm's film should have been able to stand alongside any of these, but it is a major disappointment: as artificial as Mimì's embroidered flowers, and little more fragrant.
Description of La Boheme: The Film
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