La Traviata

My appreciation of opera is considerable, but I just haven't watched or listened to that much of it.  My first encounter was a truncated production of "La Boheme" at my elementary school, performed in the "cafetorium" by a local company.  Following that I heard the occasional aria on LP records played at my friend's parent's homes.   I was always taken with the emotion, the bigness of the arrangements.  But maybe not sufficiently to start listening to Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland on my own.   It never became part of my soul, as Richard Gere would explain to Julia Roberts in PRETTY WOMAN. 

1983's LA TRAVIATA is based on Giuseppe Verdi's (my undergrad Music Appreciation teacher called him Joe Green, tee hee) 1853 opera.  It's a tragic story of love torn asunder as the tuberculosis stricken Violetta (Teresa Stratas) is separated from her beloved Alfredo (Placido Domingo) due to family interference.  It is as grandiose with its thundering soprano and tenor duets as anyone familiar with these sort of affairs would expect.  As many librettos are in Italian, a significant portion of opera fans don't even know what is being sung about, or care.  

It's the passion brought forth, and director Franco Zeffirelli crams every frame with it.  He valiantly tries to make a film out of this material, opening up stage restrictions to cavernous rooms and outdoor gardens.  He mostly succeeds, skillfully overseeing a lavish, eye filling production.  The set decoration is astonishing.  Ennio Guarnieri's photography is lush and colorful.   By the '80s, the director had worked extensively with stage operas and motion pictures (including ROMEO AND JULIET) and was certainly the right bloke for the job.

Yet a certain something was lacking.  I can fault nothing with what's onscreen.  Dismissing the story as obvious melodrama would reveal a lack of understanding about opera itself.  Leonard Maltin loved LA TRAVIATA, and believed that even non-opera buffs would likewise.  I'm not so sure, unless they just like looking at pretty people and things.  One can't deny that the actor/singers don't give it their all, possibly just this short of getting a hernia.  But I don't feel this film will necessarily convert the Joe Green agnostics.