The Magic Flute - Criterion Collection

List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $26.99
You Save: $2.96 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $16.98 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases

DVD Cover Information

Movie Reviews of The Magic Flute - Criterion Collection

Movie Review: Even if you are not a fan of opera
Summary: 5 Stars

Summary of The Magic Flute - Criterion Collection

Certainly Bergman renders the fairy-tale aspects of Mozart's mise-en-sc?ne with such buoyant detail that the film makes an excellent entr?e both for youngsters and for anyone who is uneasy about how to approach an opera. Yet there is much food for thought to be savored by the already initiated as well. One of Bergman's more brilliant interventions is to depict Sarastro and the Queen of the Night as a divorced couple engaged in a bitter battle over daughter Pamina. The director supplies plenty of energetic wit and arabesques of allusion (in addition to his Prospero-like demeanor, the high priest Sarastro is shown at one point during the intermission perusing the score of Parsifal), and--as might be expected of one of film's greatest symbolists--teases out the opera's weightier allegorical levels with hauntingly beautiful effect. Brilliant chiaroscuro and contrasted lighting patterns, for example, offer ongoing visual commentary on the contest between darkness and light. The cast is exceptionally photogenic, their abundant youth and obvious chemistry more than compensating for the often no-more-than-mediocre vocal performances (with the exception of H?kan Hageg?rd's utterly disarming, still-fresh portrayal of Papageno). For a desert-island audio recording, try Thomas Beecham. --Thomas May

Art House & International DVD Video

• Kids & Family
• Musicals & Performing Arts