Plots(1)
Producer Don Boyd brought together 10 of the world's most revered directors in order to pay homage to the opera with this episodic feature. Each director was asked to choose an aria from an operatic work and create a short film inspired by the emotions and intensity of the music rather than merely re-creating the opera itself. True to form, the result is a bizarre, moving, and broad work of entertainment. Standouts include Charles Sturridge's haunting LA VIRGINE DEGLI ANGELI, which follows a group of adolescents who steal a car and meet an early demise; Jean-Luc Godard's ARMIDE, an abstract visual tour de force that incorporates nude females floating around bodybuilders in midworkout; Franc Roddam's somber LIEBESTOD, which watches a young couple spending one last night in a Las Vegas hotel room; Derek Jarman's nostalgic DEPUIS LE JOUR, a moving ode to a life well lived; and Ken Russell's stimulating NESSUN DORMA, which breathes fresh life into the moment just before one dies. The directors use the works of their chosen composer--including Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Erich Korngold, Jean Philippe Rameau, Giacomo Puccini, Gustave Charpentier, and Ruggiero Leoncavallo--to tell stories about life, love, and loss as they feel it on a personal level, making ARIA more than just a sheer exercise in style. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Theresa Russell
USA
Best movies:
Straight Time (1978)
Empire Falls (2005) (TV movie)
Kafka (1991)
Buck Henry
USA
Best movies:
The Graduate (1967)
Taking Off (1971)
Harrison Bergeron (1995) (TV movie)
Beverly D'Angelo
USA
Best movies:
American History X (1998)
Hair (1979)
Annie Hall (1977)
Anita Morris
USA
Best movies:
Maria's Lovers (1984)
18 Again! (1988)
Aria (1987)
Albie Selznick
USA
Elizabeth Hurley
UK
Best movies:
Sharpe's Enemy (1994) (TV movie)
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Love's Sweet Song (2000)
Double Whammy (2001)
Bridget Fonda
USA
Best movies:
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992) (TV movie)
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
A Simple Plan (1998)
Bernie Bonvoisin
France
Best movies:
Hate (1995)
Aria (1987)
Let the Corpses Tan (2017)
Julie Hagerty
USA
Best movies:
Marriage Story (2019)
U Turn (1997)
Flying High! (1980)
Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu
Italy
Best movies:
The French Revolution (1989) (TV movie)
The Green Beautiful (1996)
Two Brothers (2004)
Tilda Swinton
UK
Best movies:
The Boys (2019) (series)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
John Hurt
UK
Best movies:
Alien (1979)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Vincent (1987)
Sophie Ward
UK
Best movies:
Jane Eyre (2011)
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Young Toscanini (1988)
Dyanne Thorne
USA
Best movies:
Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
Aria (1987)
Hellhole (1985)
Geneviève Page
France
Best movies:
Grand Prix (1966)
Fan-Fan the Tulip (1952)
El Cid (1961)
Gary Kasper
USA
Best movies:
Aria (1987)
Vision Quest (1985)
Never Too Young to Die (1986)
Andreas Wisniewski
West Germany
Best movies:
Die Hard (1988)
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Bénédicte Loyen
Best movies:
Rendezvous in Paris (1995)
Our Day Will Come (2010)
Maigret (1991) (series)
Christopher Hunter
Best movies:
Sherlock (2010) (series)
Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989) (series)
Maurice (1987)
Cris Campion
France
Best movies:
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Demons of Deception (1999) - a.f.
Taxandria (1994)
Aria (1987)