Diva (1981)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Diva (1981) – J.-J. Beineix

The debut feature from Jean-Jacques Beineix (who went on to make Betty Blue, 1986, which I still haven’t seen) is rather hard to pin down.  At first, it seems to be about a teenager, Jules (Frédéric Andréi), with a passion for opera, who secretly records a concert by a famous diva who refuses to be recorded, Cynthia Hawkins (real opera singer Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez), and also steals her dress from backstage after the show. Later this becomes important to the plot, the recording at least.  But parallel to this is a whole other story about an international prostitution ring that the cops are working to expose and a cassette tape that contains damning evidence against a prominent figure.  The two narrative threads intertwine when the cassette ends up in the basket of Jules’ moped. I have to admit that I was not particularly engaged by the film at first, but as it progressed I found myself more and more drawn into the story, which contains a number of intriguing side characters (Alba played by Thuy An Luu and Gorodish played by Richard Bohringer – who may actually be the main focus of the source novel and other books by Delacorta).  The thriller frame probably helps to support the various digressions by giving the viewer something to hold on to.  Moreover, the proceedings here are stylishly staged and photographed -- and enjoyably unpredictable.