Mozart-Losey


Joseph Losey's 1979 film adaptation of the Mozart opera Don Giovanni adheres faithfully to the original Lorenzo Da Ponte libretto, with rakish Don Giovanni (Ruggero Raimondi) putting the make on the aristocratic Dona Anna (Edda Moser). Giovanni's enemies warn him that he'll suffer mightily for his amorous escapades. And when the gates of hell open up on cue in the last act, and Don Giovanni is dragged screaming into perdition, it turns out those enemies were right.


Don Giovanni is a 1979 French-Italian film directed by Joseph Losey. It is an adaptation of Mozart's classic opera Don Giovanni, based on the Don Juan legend of a seducer, destroyed by his excesses. The film stars Ruggero Raimondi in the title role, and the conductor is Lorin Maazel. The film has generally been praised as one of the finer adaptations of opera to the big screen. It was re-released on DVD in 2008.


The Production Design by Alexandre Trauner won a César Award in 1980. The cinematography is lush with many scenes set in visually appealing locations, such as the Villa Rotonda or gondolas gliding through the canals of Venice.
The film casts some of the best opera singers of its day. Notable set-pieces of the opera, including the catalogue aria and the duet of Giovanni and Zerlina (Là ci darem la mano), are handled well. However, the sound has been criticised for being recorded in an over-reverberant acoustic. There has also been criticism of the operatic scale of acting by some of the performers, which does not always translate convincingly to the movie screen

Release Date: November 5, 1979


Distrib: New Yorker