# Opera in movies



## Kari (May 13, 2012)

What's your favourite movie containing operatic music? I can instantly think of two. Firstly, Неоконченная пьеса для механического пианино by Nikita Mihalkov (based on Tchehov) and Una furtiva lagrima sung by Caruso - the first time I heard the aria. Secondly, Diva by Beineix featuring Wilhelmina Fernandez and Ebben?... Ne andrò lontana from La Wally, which is very much a part of the plot.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

Apocalypse Now uses the Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure by Wagner. I saw this movie with a devoted Wagner fan.


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## Kari (May 13, 2012)

I agree that The Ride of The Walkyries is very much a part of Apocalypse. Now! Anything else?


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## Kari (May 13, 2012)

I just remember another important one: The Shawshank Redemption and the duetto from Le Nozze di Figaro - an amazing moment in a brilliant movie.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

Gallipoli is quite an old movie, but it used "Au Fond Du Temple Saint" from Bizet's Pearl Fishers.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

The Fifth Element is a sci-fi movie which features Lucia di Lammermoor's Il Dolce Suone, Lucia's lovely mad scene.


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## reffohelgnid (Mar 12, 2012)

Dare I mention the Marx Brothers' _A Night at the Opera_? Features the music of Verdi and Leoncavallo.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

This movie has introduced a lot of people to classical music & opera


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

Antichrist (directed by Lars Von Trier) uses a Purcell opera in its lyrical prologue and epilogue. incidentally, the film ends with a dedication to Andrei Tarkovsky who was one of the biggest Baroque junkies ever. 

same director made Melancholia last year with Tristan und Isolde in the soundtrack. Again, the orchestra comes in when it flies in expressiveness, and the camerawork is very dirty without the classical music. 

Habanera shows up in PTA's Magnolia, among other things. 

a clip from Lucia di Lammermoor is in Departed (scorsese)

Dangerous Method, by David Cronenberg with Howard Shore, has TONS of Der Ring references, including the idyll.


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## Kari (May 13, 2012)

I had to watch Gallipoli again to see and hear the operatic connection. What a movie, by the way! You have to wait an hour and a half till you get to Gallipoli and after that the game is very much over. And the brief bit of The Pearlfishers is very brief indeed! Apart from that, you get to hear Albinoni's Adagio four times... It was Ok in the seventies, but now it sounds like elevator/lift music. Even the composer has been contested.


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## Kari (May 13, 2012)

I have to add two more movies. Fellini's E la nave va, which is a real treat for an opera lover, the plot being spun around scattering the ashes of Edmea Tetua - a famous opera singer - in the sea. Bertolucci's La Luna features a soprano trying to deal with her teenage son.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Solaris" Does feature 'Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (BWV 639)', by Johann Sebastian Bach. It a great film with a good original score too


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

Badinerie said:


> Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Solaris" Does feature 'Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (BWV 639)', by Johann Sebastian Bach. It a great film with a good original score too


All of Tarkovsky's films will show a great love of Baroque music, which very often manifests itself in soundtrack choices. but that departs from "Opera" in most cases (including Solaris)

Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's score for Andrei Rublev features a female vocalist with a haunting and lyrical wordlessness that offers a really timeless aesthetic. not at all "opera" but the woman is almost certainly classically trained.


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## theclassicalguy (Jan 21, 2009)

Lars von Trier seems to like using classical music. He uses the prelude to Tristan und Isolde at the beginning and the end of 'Melancholia'. The effect is devastating, and I can't think of better music for a film about the destruction of the world and the pointlessness of life. It is immeasurably sad.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

8 1/2 is likely the film of my life and it hosts a few pieces by Wagner and Rossini.
However the biggest impact I had from opera music in a movie is Casta Diva sung by Angela Gheorghiu during 2046.








Badinerie said:


> Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Solaris" Does feature 'Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (BWV 639)', by Johann Sebastian Bach. It a great film with a good original score too


Artemiev electronic version is indeed sublime.








AmericanGesamtkunstwerk said:


> Antichrist (directed by Lars Von Trier) uses a Purcell opera in its lyrical prologue and epilogue. incidentally, the film ends with a dedication to Andrei Tarkovsky who was one of the biggest Baroque junkies ever.


You mean Handel (Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo).


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

Bardamu said:


> You mean Handel (Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo).


Yes. Bardamu - 1, AGkw - 0. 
(i could've sworn I had looked that up before!)


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

What about the last James Bond film (Quantum of Solace) which had a scene played out on the floating opera stage in Austria (Bregenz) whilst the Scene from Tosca played- Scarpia asks Tosca for her answer where Cavaradossi is hiding Angelotti. Is a terrific scene. Have a look.






And what about this really good clip from the animated film 'Happy feet' featuring 'e lucevan le stelle' from Tosca but with words changed. Dare you to resist its charm!! I have watched it a few times one after the other!!!


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## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

I was thinking of Showshenk Redemption, but it was already mentioned. Philadelphia, has some opera, La mamma Morta with Callas at her best.





.

I loved Amadeus, Milos Forman movie...

I almost forgot!
Pretty woman
Enjoy!


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Can't let this thread continue without a mention of "Meeting Venus," the Glenn Close-vehicle/Hungarian joint based around a hypothetical multi-national presentation of Wagner's *Tannhäuser*. The movie IS great fun (though I suspect that career-opera-producers might not find as much humor in it[!])


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

How could I forget to cite M.Butterfly by Cronenberg?
The movie is heavily centered around Puccini opera as you can guess from the title.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Worst opera film ever. Aida with Sophia'Is this the face that ruined a thousand epics' Loren miming dreadfully to the the title role.


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