La Bohème
DIR: Robert Dornhelm • WRI: Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica • PRO: Jan Mojto, Kurt J. Mrkwicka • DOP: Walter Kindler • ED: Klaus Hundsbichler, Ingrid Koller • DES: Florian Reichmann • CAST: Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón

Puccini’s famous and beloved opera, La Bohème, comes to life on the big screen in Robert Dornhelm’s new European release. La Bohème’s popularity has made it one of the most performed operas in the world as well as a standard within the Italian operatic canon.

La Bohème is most certainly a tragically romantic melodrama, of a type for  which Puccini is famous, his other works including Tosca and Madame Butterfly. La Bohème sees a group of starving artists in 1800s Paris joyously struggle through the harsh winter in their treasured bohemian lifestyle, which is devoid of much luxury other than the enrichment brought about by their art and their women. Rodolfo, a writer, falls instantly and madly in love with the beautiful but sickly Mimì, who comes knocking on his door looking for a light for her candle. Later, as Rodolfo’s jealousy over the affections of other men toward the lovely Mimì forces them to separate, her health takes a turn for the worst.  

The music is magical and fans of opera will agree that the score of La Bohème blankets the audience with emotion, almost without permission. It is unavoidable if you listen to La Bohème: you will cry, despite the plot narrative being so annoyingly melodramatic. Thankfully, it’s in Italian, so unless you are watching La Bohème in a cinema, the illusion of love and loss is purely musically induced… Unless of course you speak Italian, but then you are probably romantically inclined anyway. Enthrallingly emotive as the music is – herein lies the problem of translating opera into cinema – it loses just enough of the magic to make it all seem a bit silly. After all, who outside the world of opera falls desperately in love and is professing true and unending support within five minutes of their first meeting? It is easy to see why this type of narrative carry-on could be viewed as slightly obnoxious.

Transferring opera from stage to screen is a worthy cause for many reasons, the most convincing of which is accessibility. Opera as a theatre experience, though not too expense for the cheap seats, is still seen as an elitist cultural circus, with fanfare and luxurious amenities for those philanthropically inclined. Turning the stage production into a film allows the experience to become accessible to those who may not have extra opera money in these days of ever tightening budgets as well as those curious newcomers or old opera lovers who live far from an opera house. Pay €10, sit in a cushy seat with a cup holder whilst munching on some popcorn and sweets, and enjoy some of the world’s most incredible operatic voices at the local cinema – this must be what Puccini intended. There is only one problem with this. It is most certainly not what Puccini would have intended. The power of opera lies in the vocal prowess of its performers who can literally reverberate the guts of any live audience member, front row or back. La Bohème as a score has several particularly transcendent moments that cannot be accessed without the benefit of live performance by masters of the art. 

As a film adaptation of an opera goes, this one’s not too shabby. Giving concession to the fact that the opera to film transfer will probably never really work allows for a forced disregard of the close-ups of distorted faces singing with all their might. The ridiculous melodrama and theatrical overacting is also forgivable when viewed with this knowledge. The music of La Bohème has become iconic and is a classic beyond reproach. For this reason alone the film is worth a viewing.   

Lydia O’Connor
(Read biog here)

Rated G (see IFCO website for details)
La Bohème is released on 19th December 2008
La Bohème – Official website