Farinelli

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece!
Review: No other movie in the world could be so well acted, presented, and emotional! It truly depics the life of the worlds most famous singer ever!

Rating:
Summary: Orpheus
Review: Not so mundane. It makes you wonder, what if they didnt stop castrating young males?

WOuld Jesseye and Kathleen still be the gay operatic icons on the 21st century?

Kelechi

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding view of the greatest castrato
Review: Set in 18th Century Europe, this is the story of castrato Carlo Broschi (known as "Farinelli"), arguably the greatest (at least the most popular) singer of all time. The film delves into his life in a deeply personal, if fictionalized, way. Reminiscent of "Amadeus" in its mixture of truth and fiction, we follow the lives of Farinelli and his brother, the composer Ricardo Broschi, from street trumpet duels through stardom, and Farinelli's life as a court figure and personal singer to King Phillip V of Spain.

Farinelli struggles with fractured memories and painful questions as he learns to use his talent apart from his brother's composing. No, no, that's too flat a description of the story -- after watching this film MANY times, I must say that each time I see it, I find new sub-plots and new techniques applied in direction, cinematography and music.

The film features lush cinematography and a unique and rich soundtrack (featuring the computer-b! ! lended voices of Derek Lee Ragin, Counter-tenor, and Ewa Mallas-Godlewska, soprano, to simulate the vocal range of Farinelli).

I could not give a higher recommendation to this film, which I *believe* won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category.

CORRECTIONS: Stefano Dionisi is the star, not the Director or Producer (the listing should read, "by Gerard Corbiau"). Also, the name of the film is "Farinelli, Il Castrato" END

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding view of the greatest castrato
Review: Set in 18th Century Europe, this is the story of castrato Carlo Broschi (known as "Farinelli"), arguably the greatest (at least the most popular) singer of all time. The film delves into his life in a deeply personal, if fictionalized, way. Reminiscent of "Amadeus" in its mixture of truth and fiction, we follow the lives of Farinelli and his brother, the composer Ricardo Broschi, from street trumpet duels through stardom, and Farinelli's life as a court figure and personal singer to King Phillip V of Spain.

Farinelli struggles with fractured memories and painful questions as he learns to use his talent apart from his brother's composing. No, no, that's too flat a description of the story -- after watching this film MANY times, I must say that each time I see it, I find new sub-plots and new techniques applied in direction, cinematography and music.

The film features lush cinematography and a unique and rich soundtrack (featuring the computer-b! ! lended voices of Derek Lee Ragin, Counter-tenor, and Ewa Mallas-Godlewska, soprano, to simulate the vocal range of Farinelli).

I could not give a higher recommendation to this film, which I *believe* won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category.

CORRECTIONS: Stefano Dionisi is the star, not the Director or Producer (the listing should read, "by Gerard Corbiau"). Also, the name of the film is "Farinelli, Il Castrato" END

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Sumptious presentation, missing only some motivational aspects of the principal characters. Generally faithful to 18th century scene and identifiably based on the biography of Carlo Broschi as summarized by Groves. Not for the fastidious, however.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible movie, incredible music
Review: There are too many inaccuracies in this movie that I cannot even count them! In addition, the plot was terrible, the casting was awkward, and the sex scenes unnecessary. This cannot be called a 'period movie.'

For anyone who knows anything about castrati, they would never have looked like Stefano Dionisi (masculine and angular. Farinelli was called 'il ragazzo' (the boy) on account of his childlike appearance. Also, his lip-syncing with the audio track was perpetually ill-timed (though acceptable for a non-musician) and distracting.

However, even though I feel the artistic merit of this movie is negligible, the soundtrack is one of the most incredible recordings I have ever heard. The artificial castrato voice created for this film is sublime and definitely worth investing in.

Rating:
Summary: The Exotic History Of Opera: Farinelli The Great
Review: This DVD comes equipped with English translation from the Italian that this movie was made in. There are also subtitles in French and Spanish, as well as scene selections. French director Gerard Corbiau decided to make a lush film about the life of Farinelli, the greatest castrato singer in all history, portrayed by Italian actor Stefano Dionisi. On DVD, this film looks exquisite. It's a film of adult material (nudity and sex) and for specialized interests. Opera buffs will want to take a glimpse back to the early days of Baroque Opera when the castrati were the music idols of their day, enjoying rockstar status and great wealth. Everything about this film is really engaging to look at. The authentic historic costumes and the precise European locations provide the film with an immediacy and virtual historic escape. We are there in 17th century Italy following this dramatically heightened take on the career of Farinelli. Stefano Dionisi does a great performance, though his effiminate looks, mischief and diva temperament reveals something of a homosexual but this notion is taken into question when we see him in the love scenes with the many beautiful women that are his groupies and loyal admirers of his voice.

This drama may not be entirely true. The story of how the two brothers who are at conflict (one brother reaps the benefits the other is left frustrated and obscure) may be a deliberate attempt to resemble Milos Forman's Amadeus.Farinelli came from a family of musical ambitions and when he was about to hit puberty he wanted to be castrated for the sole purpose of making millions of money and acquiring world fame as a singer. Castrating male youth so as to keep their high-pitched soprano range was an Italian custom, which died out in the 18th century where women began to enjoy more prominet roles in opera, such as the operas of Mozart. Farinelli was the greatest castrato singer of his day. He was incredibly rich and enjoyed the company of royalty. After his many theatrical performances in operas by Handel and other composers, he gave up the stage to sing in the private chambers of Spanish King Phillip V. He lived in luxury there for the rest of his life.

The film is exotic and beautiful to look at and to listen. The music of Handel is prominent, since it was Handel who most wrote for the castrati voice. Impressive are the scenes at the opera, where Farinelli dazzles and mesmerizes his audience against the colorful and elaborate Baroque stage sets. In one scene early in the film, he sings what looks like the sun god Apollo, in a feathered helmet, and is briefly interrupted by a young lady's turning the pages to a libretto. He continues his singing and finishes with an elongated note that is impossible to hold for any tenor or soprano nowadays. Today, the castrati vocal sound is extinct. Perhaps close to it, and even this by a little off, is the male countertenor or a highly developed falsetto. I find that the female mezzo soprano voice is the closest to castrati singing, especially Cecilia Bartoli. Her singing in the recent Salieri Album comes dangerously close to sounding like castrati.
In the movie, creative editing and synthesizing combined a tenor's lung power and a soprano's high top register to effectively portray the sound of a castrati, which sounded like a weird blend of male and female voices, with the female being the stronger range. With that voice, coloratura is unleashed with freedom, agility and high-flung acrobatics.

Rating:
Summary: Good acting, plot fizzles out...
Review: This is an interesting and daringly unusual story with above-average acting and accurate costumes and settings--and, for an especially nice touch, the music is performed on authentic 18th-century instruments. Nevertheless, the plot loses momentum and finally fizzles out in a puddle of sentimental thwack. And I know the 18th century could be a little effiminate at times, but there are elements of this movie that are unnecessisarily fru-fru, and it's annoying. A must-see for those of you who are into baroque music, but beware. It's not "Amadeus".

Rating:
Summary: A Breathtaking and Complex Film
Review: This is possibly my favorite movie, and I was shocked to see bad customer reviews of it on Amazon.com. To set matters right: The film is amazing, both as a look at 18th-century attitudes towards music, and as a story about the many different incarnations love takes. The film's sex scenes are probably some of the most beautiful around, and those that feel they are unnecessary to the film are probably looking at the past through puritanical filters. (The twentieth century did not, in fact, invent good sex...)

Castrati were, in fact, very much sex symbols in their time and farinelli, when in the service of the spanish king, was summoned ot him "most nights to sing until one or two o'clock in the morning," interptet it as you will. For more information on Castrati, see "Eunuchs and Castrati, a Cultural History" and also The chapter on castrati in "Singers of Italian Opera".

As far as authenticity is concerned, the film portrays baroque audiences, with theior liveliness and level of involvement, beautifully, and I find the director's portrayal of Farinelli quite satisfactory. The machinery and decadence of the opera of the time is conveyed to perfection, and much research has obviously gone into the film.

Handel's music, of course, speaks for itself. It can be easy to get lost in a Handel opera sometimes, among Da Capo arias, but this movie reminds us that this is, in fact, some of the most beautiful music ever written.

Rating:
Summary: best movie ever!
Review: this is the best movie ever!