Diva (1981)
Directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix

Film Review

With its striking, self-consciously arty design, Diva heralded the emergence of a new trend in French cinema which, although short-lived, would have an enduring and wide-ranging impact that would extend as far as American cinema, influencing the development of the policier genre in the '80s and '90s.   Dubbed the cinéma du look, this new style of film placed much greater emphasis on visual impact than content, blurred the boundary between reality and fantasy to the point where the two became virtually indistinguishable, and generally concerned itself with marginalized young people struggling to get by in bleak economic times.  Jean-Jacques Beineix set the ball rolling with his startling debut feature Diva, a strong reaction against the increasingly violent realist thrillers of the 1970s, but equally impressive examples are to be found in the oeuvre of Luc Besson - Subway (1985), Nikita (1990) - and Leos Carax - Mauvais sang (1986), Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991).  

What most characterises the cinéma du look aesthetic is a heightened sense of reality which is conveyed, perhaps paradoxically, by a subtly expressionistic approach to each of the elements which make up the film - design, shot composition, camerawork and editing.  When they are employed at their best, the stylised design and exaggerated camera movements in Diva provide an intensely subjective experience, evoking the fear, panic and hopelessness of the hunted outsider who finds himself caught up in a Kafkaesque nightmare and is suddenly confronted with his own mortality.  The best instance of this is the spectacular chase through the Paris underground, which feels horribly like one of those slow-motion dreams in which you desperately try to escape from some unknown, unseen horror, running in naked terror from what you sense is the spectre of death itself (that or the tax man).  Diva is unlike many thrillers of its time in that it is far more preoccupied with the sensation of fear than with the reality of physical violence, and this is what sets it apart.

Films such as Diva and Subway represented such a strong stylistic departure from what had gone before that they proved to be easy targets for many critics, who were quick to dismiss them as futile exercises in style over content.  Diva certainly has its flaws.  The plot is ludicrous beyond belief, overly complex and muddled, with characters that are poorly developed and, in many cases, unconvincingly played.  The film also suffers from some uneven pacing, its breathtaking action sequences often followed by languorous scenes that offer as much excitement and interest as watching paint dry.  Yet, taken as a whole, if you don't peer too closely beneath its shiny surface, Diva offers an arresting, highly entertaining piece of cinema.   With a remarkable panache that would be lacking in many of his subsequent films, Beineix successfully brings into collision two very different worlds - the world of opera, with its harmony, beauty and immediate contact with the divine, and that of the Parisian underworld, represented by prostitutes, corrupt cops and sadistic killers in dark glasses.

The presence and singing voice of world-class soprano Wilhelmenia Fernández (in her one and only dramatic screen appearance) imbues the film with a sublime elegance, making an almost surreal contrast with the sordid reality which the other characters represent as they allow themselves to be drawn into a vicious dance of death and destruction.  The cast includes no established stars but several actors who would go on to become very familiar faces in French cinema - Richard Bohringer, Gérard Darmon and Dominique Pinon.  As the enigmatic Zen-empowered guardian angel, Bohringer exerts a strangely calming influence over the proceedings, so laid-back and detached that he appears to be the exact polar opposite of the conventional thriller hero (either that or an extreme paraody of the aloof heroes played by Alain Delon).  Meanwhile, Darmon and Pinon form a surprisingly effective double act, resembling a cheap vaudeville team moonlighting as underpaid hired assassins.  Through a suitably understated performance, Frédéric Andréi perfectly captures the helplessness of an innocent caught up in a brutal and unkind world - symbolising France's neglected youth at the time the film was made.

Although it was destined to become a cult classic, Diva had very little impact when it was first released in France.  It wasn't until it proved to be a box office hit in America that the film acquired its cult status and the respect of serious film critics.  At the 1982 Césars, the film picked up four awards, in the categories of Best First Work (Jean-Jacques Beineix), Best Cinematography (Philippe Rousselot), Best Music (Vladimir Cosma) and Best Sound (Jean-Pierre Ruh).  Beineix's follow-up film, La Lune dans le caniveau (1983), was far less enthusiastically received and was even booed when it was shown at Cannes in 1984.  The director then scored a notable hit in France with his next film, the hauntingly poetic 37°2 le matin (aka Betty Blue) (1986).  Since, Beineix has been largely overlooked by all but his most loyal followers, even though his films continue to be distinctive and strangely compelling reflections on life and death.   His most interesting film to date is, arguably, his 1997 television short Assigné à residence (a.k.a. Locked-in Syndrome), which powerfully chronicles the last days of Jean Dominique Bauby, the subject of Julian Schnabel's Le Scaphandre et le papillon (2007).

Film Synopsis

Jules, a young Parisian postman, illegally records a concert performance given by the world famous opera singer Cynthia Hawkins, whom he idolises.  The following day, Jules runs into a woman who is being pursued by armed thugs.  Before she is killed, the woman slips an audio cassette containing an incriminating confession into his mail bag.  Unwittingly, the young postman becomes the target of some sinister Orientals who saw him record the concert and sadistic armed killers, who have been instructed to recover the audio cassette at any cost...