Carmen Movie Reviews

I took a masterclass in the art of film making during the recent MAMI film festival in Mumbai. The movie I saw, Carmen, is the result of Spanish director Carlos Saura's multi-talented genius. If, like me, the only Spanish director you’ve heard of is Pedro Almodovar, this movie will change that rapidly.

The story of a flamenco(tango?) maestro's passion for a new pupil, Carmen is a superb example of what an accomplished director can do with even a run-of-the-mill plot. Saura not only directed this but also choreographed the dances, and I think, designed the sound. Indeed, thesound design, the art direction, the cinematography, and the editingare almost seamless. Together, they make this a rather enthralling movie despite its obvious plot and end.

The movie’s protagonist, Antonio, narrates how he discovers the young woman that he plans to cast as Carmen in the opera of the same name. He senses from the start that the mysterious woman will be his downfall. Yet he hurtles along that path, wanting to possess her and make a star out of her. Her bohemian lifestyle and her teasing infuriate him, yet he cannot but accept they are what makes her perfect for the role.

What follows is such a beautiful and seamless fusion of illusion and reality that you will be left wondering which part of what’s happening on screen is the rehearsal for the opera and which part is the couple’s story. This is direction, editing, and cinematography at its best. Watch out for the superb use of shadows to depict the struggle between Antonio and Carmen’s criminal husband, all filmed as flamenco dance!

The relentless thud of flamenco shoes and rhythmic clapping reverberates almost through every scene, giving each an edgy feel that heightens and sustains the movie. Everything is an education: the use of overlapping dialogs in scenes that require the use of several people, the fluidity of the camera’s movements, and the shot selection.

Watch out for the sequence about workers in a tobacco factory. Watch again for the scene when Antonio discovers Carmen and Tauro, one of his male pupils, getting it on immediately after he’s put both of them through a punishing rehearsal. Watch how Saura cleverly sets up this climax during the rehearsal.

Be warned, however, that the movie has some explicit scenes. Shot almost entirely within Antonio’s studio, the movie’s set is so bare, yet used so well, it’s a tutorial on minimal set design and use of enclosed spaces.

I never thought I would enjoy a dance movie so much! Ask for it at your movie library or pester your local movie club to screen it—you won’t regret it. The BAFTA certainly didn’t regret awarding it Best Foreign Language film in 1985. Neither did the AMPAS, when it nominated Carmen for Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1984. MAMI was right to honor Saura with the Lifetime Technical Achievement Award this year

• 
  • Flag This Review
  • Irrelevant
  • Fake
  • Junk
• Thank You! We appreciate your effort.