Diva

[ this 1982 french thriller, directed by jean-jacques beineix, is re-released last year in theatres for 25th anniversary]

when i watched this movie, last year, in my office where a bunch of movie enthusiasts watch foreign art flicks for kicks every wednesday evening where food is provided by the company, i felt it was just another weird french thriller with a romantic touch. but there is more, much more to it, which i realised in the last couple of weeks. this isn't the first time that a movie started to make more sense a couple of months or years after initially watching it :p

on the surface, the story is about a young post-man in paris, who gets into big trouble with the french underground mafia and a high ranking official involving sex and drug trade. lots of twists and turns of any other thriller involving corrupt officials and the mobsters.

but there is something else, the essential character that lies hidden within the art and cinematography of this movie.

it's the obsessive and unconsummated love of the young post-man with the voice of a french diva,  cynthia hawkins. the guy spends all his spare time 'fantasizing' romance with the opera singer.  the following scene shows how madly devoted and obsessive he is about the soprano, where he secretly records her voice.

after the performance, he goes to the backstage, and steals the flowing silk gown she was wearing during the performance and goes home with it.

why??? hehe.. felt really weird and kinky at the mere thought of it.  one of those french films, i thought.

but it does make some sense now, regarding what he does with the dress and why.  the soprano is an african-american opra singer currently visiting france, a star, as well as much much older than him. due to the difference in race, class and in age, he can't even think of making love to her in reality. but how can he handle the physical changes that happen to his body, and emotions that flare up, due to the obsessive fantasy he spends all his spare time? 

he goes out in the night. finds a middle eastern hooker on the street who looks more or less like the object of his desire. brings her to his apartment and asks her to wear the silk gown :))  and then he makes love to her.

sounds pathetic, isn't it? but it's filmed in a very sensitive ans aesthetic manner.  what else the poor guy do? he feels that all that testoterone his body is producing while thinking about the diva really belongs to the diva and there is no way he can give it to her. so, he finds a *proxy* :p

i love this movie now :)