{"id":51619,"date":"2020-09-18T10:32:32","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T17:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51619"},"modified":"2021-01-22T14:09:56","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T21:09:56","slug":"diva-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51619","title":{"rendered":"Diva (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;She&#8217;s the queen of the night.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Poster-209x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-51620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Poster-209x300.jpg 209w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Poster-89x128.jpg 89w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Poster-188x270.jpg 188w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Poster.jpg 713w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA French postman (Frederic Andrei) obsessed with the music of an American opera singer (Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez) secretly tapes her performance and shares it with a young teen (Thuy An Luu) who lives with a Zen-like older mentor (Richard Bohringer). Meanwhile, the girlfriend (Chantal Deruaz) of a corrupt police commissioner (Jacques Fabbri) is murdered by henchmen (Gerard Damon and Dominique Pinon) just after dropping an evidence-filled tape into the basket of Andrei&#8217;s moped, and Andrei soon finds himself pursued not only by Damon and Pinon, but by a pair of Taiwanese gangsters interested in his pirated tape of Fernandez, as well as a dedicated female cop (Anny Romand) and her male accomplice.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Gangsters<\/li>\n<li>Obsessive Fans<\/li>\n<li>Opera<\/li>\n<li>Singers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that this &#8220;goofy, glittery, dazzlingly stylish suspense thriller by first-time director Jean-Jacques Beneix became an immediate cult sensation in France and America,&#8221; noting that while &#8220;some critics complained that Beneix&#8217;s work was self-consciously (Pop) arty&#8221;, &#8220;surely the story, from a novel by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Daniel_Odier\">Delacorta (Daniel Odier)<\/a>, is bizarre enough to warrant a wild style.&#8221; He points out that the protagonist, Jules (Andrei), &#8220;lives in one of Beineix&#8217;s fascinating sets (designed by Hilton McConnico): a dark loft full of stereo equipment, wrecked cars, and Pop art (including large photos of cars)&#8221;, and he notes that the &#8220;quirkiness of the film is evident in [the] three major character couplings: Jules, an 18-year-old, white, passive Frenchman, and Cynthia [Fernandez], the taller, 30-ish, black American performer:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1-1024x518.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"324\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-65199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1-1024x518.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1-128x65.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1-768x389.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1-1536x778.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1-533x270.png 533w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Star-1.png 1657w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; Alba [Luu], a teenage, hedonistic Vietnamese shoplifter and Gorodosh [Bohringer], her adult, white, Zen-freak boyfriend; the tall, handsome, suave Latin thug [Damon] and his short, indented-faced, punk-garbed, blond, younger partner (Dominique Pinon is a memorable screen villain), who always has a Walkman blaring in his ears.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Peary points out that &#8220;Beineix under<em>scores<\/em> [these] odd teams by mixing rock and classical music&#8221;, and that &#8220;visually, Beineix uses his frame like a Pop-art canvas, filling the spaces between his black, blue, and red images with white light, direct or reflected.&#8221; (Beineix&#8217;s DP was Philippe Rousselot.) He notes that Beineix is &#8220;thrilled with movement, so he places his characters on wheels (Jules&#8217;s moped, Gorodosh&#8217;s classic white Citroen, Alba&#8217;s roller skates, etc.) and lets the camera run wild, almost as if it had a life of its own. (One of the highlights is a mad car-motorcycle chase.)&#8221; He adds that Beineix &#8220;makes weird choices at every turn and very few don&#8217;t have big payoffs.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>Peary elaborates on his detailed analysis of this film in his <em>Cult Movies 3<\/em> book, where he notes that &#8220;it is precisely Beineix&#8217;s determination to mix diverse elements such as opera and a lowbrow crime drama that makes the film so outrageous and entertaining&#8221;, and points out that Beineix&#8217;s &#8220;actors come in all shapes and sizes and from various backgrounds&#8221;. He argues that what the film&#8217;s survivors &#8220;have in common is a capacity to love people and love <em>good<\/em> music&#8221; &#8212; indeed, &#8220;love and music are shown to be pure, purifying forces&#8221;, while &#8220;the criminals are those people who prostitute love&#8230; or music&#8230;; in the minds of Delacorta and Beineix the businessmen who deal in record piracy are just as ruthless as down-and-dirty street criminals.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Peary ends his lengthy <em>Cult Movies<\/em> review by noting that &#8220;the film is about how a singer&#8217;s lovely voice and a series of strange circumstances cause Jules, Cynthia, Alba and Gorodish to interact&#8221;, with the result &#8220;that all of them break out of their depressed past-obsessed states, reveal inner goodness&#8230;, find love, and make commitments to the future&#8221;. He notes that while this is a &#8220;cheery, sentimental theme that would seem out of place in typical low-budget crime thrillers&#8221;, he thinks &#8220;it&#8217;s one of the reasons <em>Diva<\/em> is such a crowd pleaser&#8221; &#8212; and I agree. This delightful, quirky, visually vibrant flick remains as unique as it was upon its release, and has held up remarkably well &#8212; there&#8217;s no other film quite like it, and I doubt there ever will be. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vibrant cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2-1024x534.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"334\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51624\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2-1024x534.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2-128x67.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2-768x401.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2-1536x802.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2-517x270.png 517w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography2.png 1627w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5-1024x528.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"330\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51632\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5-1024x528.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5-300x155.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5-128x66.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5-768x396.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5-1536x792.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5-523x270.png 523w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets5.png 1615w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2-1024x527.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"329\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2-1024x527.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2-128x66.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2-768x395.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2-1536x790.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2-525x270.png 525w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets2.png 1615w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Highly unique and stylized sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1-1024x520.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"325\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1-1024x520.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1-128x65.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1-768x390.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1-1536x781.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1-531x270.png 531w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Sets1.png 1639w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4-1024x517.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"323\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4-1024x517.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4-128x65.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4-768x388.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4-1536x776.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4-534x270.png 534w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography4.png 1633w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3-1024x514.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"321\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3-1024x514.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3-128x64.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3-768x385.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3-1536x770.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3-538x270.png 538w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Cinematography3.png 1641w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The exciting moped\/subway sequence<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase-1024x518.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"324\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51627\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase-1024x518.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase-128x65.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase-768x388.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase-1536x777.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase-534x270.png 534w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Diva-Moped-Metro-Chase.png 1647w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Vladimir Cosma&#8217;s score <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as an enduring cult classic. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0082269\/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_3\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=8368&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1982\/04\/16\/movies\/french-diva-opens-at-the-plaza.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s the queen of the night.&#8221; Synopsis: A French postman (Frederic Andrei) obsessed with the music of an American opera singer (Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez) secretly tapes her performance and shares it with a young teen (Thuy An Luu) who lives with a Zen-like older mentor (Richard Bohringer). Meanwhile, the girlfriend (Chantal Deruaz) of a corrupt police commissioner (Jacques Fabbri) is murdered by henchmen (Gerard Damon and Dominique Pinon) just after dropping an evidence-filled tape into the basket of Andrei&#8217;s moped,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51619\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51619"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65200,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51619\/revisions\/65200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}