Carmen in 3D (Julian Napier, 2011): UK

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.  Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Arlington Theater.

  “Toreador, en garde!  Toreador!  Toreador!”  In a stroke of brilliance, RealD, the leaders in 3D technology, have teamed up with London’s Royal Opera House to produce the first opera ever in 3D, which premiered on closing night at the SBIFF as Carmen in 3D.

Carmen (Christine Rice) is a seductive gypsy, who enjoys the sport of tempting and taunting her prey, and then discards them within a few months.  She is employed at a local cigarette factory when she notices the handsome corporal Don Jose (Bryan Hymel).  Carmen begins to ensnare Don Jose with the seductive words “Prends garde a toi!” (You’d best beware!) from her Habanera of love.

Soon after, Micaela (Maija Kovalevska), Don Jose’s hometown sweetheart,  brings a message of love to him from his mother, and explains her illness.  As his heart warms, he reminds Micaela of his intentions to marry her.

Back at the factory, the rough and tumble Carmen becomes engaged in a knife fight with another woman.  After being arrested, she is in the custody of Don Jose, whom she seduces and he succumbs.  He then leaves his post and they run off together to set up housekeeping amongst gypsies and smugglers.

Enter Escamillo (Aris Argiris), a confident and masculine bullfighter.  He proudly belts out the Toreador song and flirts outrageously with Carmen.  She becomes interested while Don Jose becomes increasingly jealous, to which there is a tragic ending.

 The Royal Opera House production of Carmen was directed by Francesca Zambello, while the filming  (live audience as well) was directed by Julian Napier, and as operas go, this production was both thrilling and engaging .  The difficulty in performing Carmen, lies not only in the diva’s ability to master the arias, but she must also perform alluring dances, and seduce Don Jose as well as the audience.  The problem with transitioning live opera to film, lies in the ability of the camera to love the diva, which is extremely difficult, considering the diva has auditioned for a live performance.

The story of Carmen is of a beautiful temptress, who literally has guys falling all over her.  She’s not a lady, but she has what it takes to steal Don Jose away from the sweet Micaela.  Having seen many productions of Carmen over the years, my recurring complaint is that Carmen really ought to be a knockout and far more alluring than Micaela, especially in film, but alas there are no more Rita Hayworth types around.

In playing to the camera (I can only suppose), this performance of Carmen is by far the raunchiest I’ve seen –  legs spread open and ready for that kitchen table thang.  Also, there seemed to be a problem at one point in the production with Rice’s bustier, but due to the magic of editing, her bustier flatly disappeared and then fully re-appeared, in tact.

There were two annoying issues regarding the screening.  The first were the  sub-titles, which is different for a live opera than film, from which I could not make out many of the words, but find this recurring problem in many a sub-titled film.  The print needs to be set in bold black or yellow lettering. 

Secondly, it was great to screen Carmen in 3D at the historic Arlington, but they really ought to have those velveteen curtains as in the Lobero, since the main doors continually opened and closed throughout, casting a harsh glare on the 3D glasses to those of us sitting to the right.

Is opera in 3D the wave of the future?  Well, I asked the guys at RealD and they intimated their intentions to produce another opera in 3D – I put in a request for Madama Butterfly.  Supposedly, the timing was right with Carmen, since RealD was gearing up for this historic 3D event at the same time the Royal Opera House was preparing their production.

Does it replace live opera?  No, but it’s a good substitute, especially if a screening offers a production of an opera that is not available that season or locally.  Annoyances that must be tolerated are the comings and goings of an audience that can’t sit still long enough to wait for the intermission, and then there are the ones that must continually stuff their gob w/food, or the texters, the talkers, etc.  I am NOT a fan of 3D, however, watching Carmen in RealD, felt similar to watching a live opera through opera glasses!  It was good, it was entertaining, and it was worth it.