Diva
by Jean-Jacques Beineix
Our Price: $58.88
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $16.33 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Frédéric Andréi, Jacques Fabbri, Richard Bohringer, Thuy An Luu, Wilhelmenia FernandezDirector: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Cinematographer: Philippe Rousselot
Writer: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Producer: Claudie Ossard
Producer: Irène Silberman
Producer: Serge Silberman
Writer: Daniel Odier
Writer: Jean Van Hamme
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-06-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Movie Reviews of Diva
Movie Review: Delightful Diva
Summary: 5 Stars
Jules is a likable young Parisian mail carrier who does his job on a moped. He's a peculiar mixture of idealistic innocence and hard-boiled realism. He's also an opera fanatic benignly obsessed with black opera star Cynthia Hawkins. His obsession is so powerful, in fact, that he surreptitiously makes a bootleg recording of one of her performances with a high quality tape recorder and then steals one of her gowns and later pays a black prostitute to have sex with him while she wears the gown.
But little does Jules realize that his already unconventional life is about to become wildly and dangerously complicated. For two Taiwanese men happen to be sitting behind him while he's taping the diva's concert, and they make it very clear to him afterward that they WANT that tape and will go to almost any lengths to get it. Why? Because Cynthia Hawkins doesn't believe in recordings. She believes that capturing her singing on tape robs it of something precious and constitutes a kind of "violation" tantamount to rape. So, Jules' pristine recording is a priceless commodity for unscrupulous persons who, unlike Jules, want to exploit its commercial potential.
Yet, this is the least of Jules' difficulties, for one day while he's delivering the mail, a desperate woman drops a cassette tape in one of his moped saddlebags just before she's murdered, and some very sinister characters are determined to get it back and make absolutely sure that young Jules never tells anyone what's on the tape. When the police become aware of this, poor Jules finds himself pursued by crooks, cops, and murderers.
Fortunately, he befriends a beguiling Vietnamese waif and her mysterious boyfriend who has a thing for Zen-like reflection and a real talent for ingenious subterfuge, and he also enjoys a wonderfully sweet romance.
When I first saw Diva in the theater in 1981, I was bowled over by its mesmerizing music, visual style, unconventional storytelling, and quirky characters. I wasn't bothered in the least by the fact that it was a French film with English subtitles. That just gave it more authenticity, as did real-life opera star Wilhelmenia Fernandez as the diva. I also liked Frédéric Andréi as Jules, Richard Bohringer as Gorodish and, especially, Thuy An Luu as Alba. I have seen the film several times since then and enjoyed it just as much if not more each time. Diva is one of my favorite films of all time. I give it a solid A.
Similar DVD Movies
8 WomenUNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2003-02-11; DVD
Best price: $6.62
Price in other shops:
Diva (Original Soundtrack)Release date: 2010-01-05; Music CD
Best price: $15.75
Price in other shops:
La Femme Nikita (Special Edition)Release date: 2003-07-01; DVD
Best price: $21.98
Henry & JuneUniversal Studios; Release date: 1999-02-23; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Delicatessen (Special Edition)Lions Gate; Release date: 2008-08-26; Published: 1987; DVD
Best price: $7.25
Price in other shops:
Repo Man (Collector's Edition)NBC Universal; Release date: 2006-01-24; DVD
Best price: $12.68
Price in other shops:
McCabe & Mrs. MillerWarner Brothers; Release date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $4.93
Price in other shops:
Diva (1981 Film)Release date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $35.99
SubwayRelease date: 2001-11-06; DVD
Best price: $3.47
Price in other shops:
The Jean-Jacques Beineix Collection: Betty BlueCINEMA LIBRE; Release date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $13.63
Price in other shops: