I came to this film not knowing much of La Traviata, nor of opera generally. I was expecting to learn something of both, and of the people involved.
Barring that, I would have liked to see and hear the actual performance filmed in front of a live audience. It seems that is available, but not in this film.
Unfortunately, I got less than half of those options.
I learned next to nothing about any of the people on the stage, in the pit, or directing, despite this appearing to be a "behind the scenes" or "making of" sort of film.
And although my guess is that the story of La Traviata is presented sequentially in the film, we're deprived of the actual performance itself, visually. Worse, the audio is often punctuated with direction and other comments; disgusted with the film, you can't even close your eyes to escape into the music. And sometimes, the audio and video are completely unrelated.
Ultimately, this film is an ad for an event that you cannot attend, because it's over. But you can pay yet more money to get the DVD of that event.
I feel like a moron having paid to see this.
Barring that, I would have liked to see and hear the actual performance filmed in front of a live audience. It seems that is available, but not in this film.
Unfortunately, I got less than half of those options.
I learned next to nothing about any of the people on the stage, in the pit, or directing, despite this appearing to be a "behind the scenes" or "making of" sort of film.
And although my guess is that the story of La Traviata is presented sequentially in the film, we're deprived of the actual performance itself, visually. Worse, the audio is often punctuated with direction and other comments; disgusted with the film, you can't even close your eyes to escape into the music. And sometimes, the audio and video are completely unrelated.
Ultimately, this film is an ad for an event that you cannot attend, because it's over. But you can pay yet more money to get the DVD of that event.
I feel like a moron having paid to see this.