Diva **** (1981, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Frédéric Andréi, Richard Bohringer, Roland Bertin) – Classic Movie Review 4224

Young Parisian writer-director Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1981 French thriller Diva is his witty, trendy and stylish film debut. Pushing a lot harder than most movies and turning its back on the realist mood of Seventies, Diva was a slow-burning hit in France, then quickly became a hugely popular cult favourite in Britain and had success in the US, grossing $2,678,103.

French critics initially disliked its colourful style, dubbed the ‘cinéma du look’, but French audiences grew after its US success and Diva played for a year in Paris cinemas. So it eventually became an acclaimed international success and cult classic, costing $1.5 million and earning $19.8 million. It is now an icon of Eighties cinema.

Wilhelmenia [Higgins] Fernandez plays Cynthia Hawkins, an American opera diva who has not ever cut a disc, so a bootleg cassette recorded by young music-loving postman fan Jules (Frédéric Andréi) is a priceless recording. And so, too, is another cassette a dying prostitute drops into the fan’s saddle-bag, exposing the boss of a vice racket. A mix-up over the two tapes plunges the fan into a major melée of murder and mayhem.

Aimed at a young, trendy audience of the early Eighties, this crowd-pleasing mixture of eye-popping gloss, offbeat humour, hard-driving action thriller, fantasy, romance and the surreal of action adds up to exuberantly done entertainment with flashes of brilliance.

Beineix adapts the novel by Daniel Odier (writing as Delacorta). Visually, Philippe Rousselot’s cinematography and Hilton McConnico set designs are major assets. And the music by Vladimir Cosma is another big plus. Roger Ebert praised the film’s visual images and chase scene through the Paris metro.

Also in the cast are Roland Bertin, Jean-Jacques Moreau, Chantal Deruaz, Thuy An Luu, Jacques Fabbri, Gérard Darmon, Dominique Pinon, Patrick Floersheim Champeaux, Natalie Dalian and Nane Germon.

Diva received four César awards: Best Debut: Jean-Jacques Beineix, Music: Vladimir Cosma, Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot and Sound: Jean-Pierre Ruh.

It has been running in the Metropolis Cinema in Hamburg, Germany, since its release.

The cast are Frédéric Andréi as Jules, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez as Cynthia Hawkins, Roland Bertin as Weinstadt, Richard Bohringer as Gorodish, Gérard Darmon as L’Antillais, Chantal Deruaz as Nadia, Jacques Fabbri as Jean Saporta, Patrick Floersheim as Zatopek, Thuy An Luu as Alba, Jean-Luc Porraz as Mermoz, Laure Duthilleul as Mermoz’s friend, Dominique Pinon as Le Curé (The Priest), Dominique Besnehard as record store employee, and Isabelle Mergault as game girl.

Jean-Jacques Beineix (8 October 1946 – 13 January 2022).

Beineix’s feature films: Diva (1981), The Moon in the Gutter (1983), Betty Blue (1986), Roselyne et les lions (1989), IP5: L’île aux pachydermes (1992), and Mortel transfert (2001).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4224

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