Rating: 
Summary: cult film - no question about it
Review: Diva is very intriguing with it's two parallel plots. The first time I saw this movie I was a bit confused and to this day I wouldn't know how to properly categorize it. It's a bit of a crime story, a bit of a romantic drama and has got lot's of great music. But even if the movie had no plot and the acting was absolutely terrible (which it isn't), you could still just sit back and enjoy the music and the pictures (the lighthouse scene is absolutely gorgeous). Thuy An Luu is very tantalizing and a joy to watch, especially skating around Gorodish's warehouse / home. Vladimir Cosma's piano sequences like the "promenade sentimentale" are masterpieces in their own right and I highly recommend the soundtrack. I've seen this movie many times in the theatre. Owning this DVD is the next best thing to the real experience on the big screen and this was one of the first purchases I made after getting a DVD player.
Rating:
Summary: This version is great!
Review: I am so happy that this "new" version has been release by Anchor Bay. The Fox Lorber version was awful (I rented it, you can read the reviews about bad sound, picture, etc.), but this Anchor Bay version has great sound quality (5:1 Surround) has original French dialog, and an English dubbed track too. The extras include a trailer (very cool). This was my favorite movie when I was in High School. It still is. Now, if someone would just release Betty Blue on DVD... For those of you disappointed by the previous release, but this new one!
Rating:
Summary: Run, Jules, Run!
Review: I first saw this film in high school and was immediately impressed with it. I've rented it innumerable times and am glad it's finally made it to DVD. The premise is somewhat ridiculous, but if you see the film as an operetta in itself, then it makes sense. The plot interweaves three stories quite skillfully: the first thread involves the obsessive love that Jules, a delivery man, has for an opera singer (the Diva), and the lengths he will go to in order to possess her (or at least to capture her amazing voice). The second tale involves two cut-throat Japanese agents who will do anything to nab Jule's bootleg copy of the Diva singing (as she refuses to be recorded and thinks that music should be an emphemeral experience). And the final intrigue that provides the weft and woof for this movie is that of an underground sex slave ring and the Paris police department's attempts at apprehending the crime lord in charge of it. All the characters in the movie were quite well-developed, except for that of the title character, the Diva, played by Wilhelmenia Fernandez. She is in real life an American opera singer, and as such I probably should not have expected so much from her as an actress. Nonetheless, her lackluster performance did not sabotage the great work by Frederic Andrei, who was superb as a naive, lovestruck Jules. Other notable performances were given by Richard Bohringer, the fabulously enigmatic Gorodish, the Zen-man with an answer for everything; and Thuy An Luu, his incorrigible, shoplifting girlfriend. I also loved the slapstick humor provided by the crime lord's two henchmen. Diva is an all-around enjoyable film that capitalizes on the sense of sound in the same manner that "Like Water for Chocolate" culled from the sense of taste. You will hear a certain aria over and over again from this film, but the music that will actually stay with you is a haunting piano piece by Erik Satie (when Jules and Cynthia are in the park). I highly recommend this movie, especially if you liked "Run Lola Run."
Rating: 
Summary: Award for worst sound, ever!
Review: I have to agree with Mr. Hodges; the film is very cool and a lot of fun. I have shown it over the years in my French classes. But, the sound is extremely inadequate. I had to turn my tv monitor all the way up, and we could still barely make out the conversation and sound effects. Until they clean up or restore the sound, don't waste that valuable money!
Rating:
Summary: One of the few enjoyable french films
Review: I love this movie for its humor and kitchsy 80's atmosphere, and it endures among my favorite foreign films. My only question about this re-release on DVD is, where are the special features? Unless the transfer has been redone this looks like the identical content from the previous Fox Lorber DVD which I already own.
Rating:
Summary: sets a standard
Review: I loved this movie when it came out and it holds up today. Great French new wave cinema. The bad guys are bad and the good guys are cool. Gotta watch this movie if you want to understand where hollywood action pics came from.
Rating:
Summary: stop your eyes watering!
Review: In 1981 Beineix made a great debut as a director: Diva was an instant cult. Twenty years after Diva is still a fine movie. The plot is always absorbing while tells the eccentric adventures of an opera- lover postman.
The DVD release presents a good video track - fine work with the many dark scenes, too - and a clear audio track.
Buy this DVD: you'll love the movie and - for sure - onions will stop making your eyes water!
Rating: 
Summary: Music Worth the Price of Admission
Review: In a word, "Stunning". Wilhelmina Wiggins Fernandez who plays the title role of Diva, Cynthia Hawkings, is outstanding! She is unbeliveably beautiful (That was my wife's comment when she first appeared on stage in the movie). She has a glorious voice which will captivate those who merely tolerate opera and enthrall those who love it (Give us more movies with this lovely lady!). The only reason I did not give this review 5 stars is that she does not sing enough! The plot is good but American audiences who are accustomed to action movies might find it a little slow even though there is a chase scene which should satisfy even the most "action hungry" fan. There are enough twists and turns to the plot that "who-done-it" fans should enjoy it too.
All in all, this is an excellent movie with great sound quality and the only objection I could find was that there was not enough of the Diva's performance!
See it, you will not regret it. This review refers to the video edition.
Rating:
Summary: Still a brilliantly stylish updating of Hitchcock
Review: Jean-Jacques Beineix's ultra-stylish adaptation of Delacorta's hip crime novel DIVA remains nearly as exciting twenty years later as it was when it came out. A bit of the sheen has come off simply because it was so stylish in terms of the moment it was made. Nonetheless, so many things in it stand out as brilliantly today as when it came out. The main chase scene with the protagonist fleeing the bad guys on his scooter remains as exciting today as ever. The movie is a blend of timeless and topical elements, and the latter have aged gracefully, while the former can hardly age at all. The film is based loosely on a novel by Delacorta, who wrote a series of books centering on the adventures of Serge and Alba, the former being an exceptionally vague sort of crime solver, and the latter a beautiful and exceptionally young female companion. The movie pushes the two lead characters of the novel and makes them secondary to the plot, and takes the blonde young girl and makes her Asian. Beineix is less concerned with their story than with that of Jules, a young man who has made a surreptitious, high quality recording of a African American opera singer who refuses to be recorded for mass distribution. The plot revolves around his accidentally and unknowingly becoming involved (a la Hitchcock) with criminals, and being simultaneously being chased by them and by others who want his recording. When DIVA came out, it seemed to be heralding the arrival of a major new directorial talent in Jean-Jacques Beineix. He followed DIVA with the beautiful to look at but overall quite disappointing THE MOON IN THE GUTTER. His subsequent output has also failed to fulfill the promise that DIVA seemed to announce. Be this as it may, it hardly undermines the brilliance of his debut effort. It remains one of the great thrillers of the past two decades, and as exciting today as ever.
Rating:
Summary: Still a brilliantly stylish updating of Hitchcock
Review: Jean-Jacques Beineix's ultra-stylish adaptation of Delacorta's hip crime novel DIVA remains nearly as exciting twenty years later as it was when it came out. A bit of the sheen has come off simply because it was so stylish in terms of the moment it was made. Nonetheless, so many things in it stand out as brilliantly today as when it came out. The main chase scene with the protagonist fleeing the bad guys on his scooter remains as exciting today as ever. The movie is a blend of timeless and topical elements, and the latter have aged gracefully, while the former can hardly age at all. The film is based loosely on a novel by Delacorta, who wrote a series of books centering on the adventures of Serge and Alba, the former being an exceptionally vague sort of crime solver, and the latter a beautiful and exceptionally young female companion. The movie pushes the two lead characters of the novel and makes them secondary to the plot, and takes the blonde young girl and makes her Asian. Beineix is less concerned with their story than with that of Jules, a young man who has made a surreptitious, high quality recording of a African American opera singer who refuses to be recorded for mass distribution. The plot revolves around his accidentally and unknowingly becoming involved (a la Hitchcock) with criminals, and being simultaneously being chased by them and by others who want his recording. When DIVA came out, it seemed to be heralding the arrival of a major new directorial talent in Jean-Jacques Beineix. He followed DIVA with the beautiful to look at but overall quite disappointing THE MOON IN THE GUTTER. His subsequent output has also failed to fulfill the promise that DIVA seemed to announce. Be this as it may, it hardly undermines the brilliance of his debut effort. It remains one of the great thrillers of the past two decades, and as exciting today as ever.
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