Don Giovanni (1979 film)

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Don Giovanni (1979 film)

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Don Giovanni

Directed by

Joseph Losey

Joseph Losey was an United States theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood....

Produced by

Robert Nador
Michel Seydoux

Written by

Lorenzo da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte was an Republic of Venice libretto and poet....
(libretto)
Rolf Liebermann

Rolf Liebermann

Rolf Liebermann , born in Zurich, was a Switzerland composer of different kinds of music. His output included chansons, classical, and light music....

Joseph Losey

Joseph Losey

Joseph Losey was an United States theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood....

Patricia Losey
Renzo Rossellini

Renzo Rossellini

Renzo Rossellini was an Italian film score composer.Born in Rome, he was brother of director Roberto Rossellini and father of producer Franco Rossellini....

Frantz Salieri

Starring

Ruggero Raimondi

Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer and sometime screen actor....

John Macurdy

John Macurdy

John Macurdy is an esteemed American operatic Bass . Among his teachers was the contralto Elisabeth Wood, who was also the pedagogue of Norman Treigle....

Edda Moser

Edda Moser

Edda Moser is a German soprano....

Kiri Te Kanawa

Kiri Te Kanawa

José van Dam

Joseph, Baron van Damme , known under the pseudonym Jos? van Dam, is a Belgium bass-baritone.Jos? van Dam was born in Brussels on August 25, 1940....

Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza

Music by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always...

Cinematography

Angelo Filippini
Gerry Fisher

Gerry Fisher

Gerry Fisher, B.S.C. is an England cinematographer. In 1976 in film Fisher was nominated for the Best Cinematography Award by the British Society of Cinematographers, for Aces High ....

Editing by

Reginald Beck
Emma Menenti

Distributed by

Artificial Eye

Artificial eye

Artificial eye can refer to:* Visual prosthesis: A functioning implant designed to restore sight.* Ocular prosthesis: A non-functioning cosmetic replacement for a lost eye....
(UK)
New Yorker Films

New Yorker Films

New Yorker Films was an independent film distribution company founded in 1965 by Daniel Talbot. It started as an extension of his movie house, the New Yorker Theatre, after he discovered he was unable to obtain certain foreign titles for exhibition....
(US)
Gaumont (France)

Release date(s)

1979

1979 in film

The year 1979 in film involved some significant events....

Running time

185 min.

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Encyclopedia

*Don Giovanni*

Directed by	Joseph Losey Joseph Losey Joseph Losey was an United States theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood....
Produced by	Robert Nador Michel Seydoux
Written by	Lorenzo da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte was an Republic of Venice libretto and poet.... (libretto) Rolf Liebermann Rolf Liebermann Rolf Liebermann , born in Zurich, was a Switzerland composer of different kinds of music. His output included chansons, classical, and light music.... Joseph Losey Joseph Losey Joseph Losey was an United States theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood.... Patricia Losey Renzo Rossellini Renzo Rossellini Renzo Rossellini was an Italian film score composer.Born in Rome, he was brother of director Roberto Rossellini and father of producer Franco Rossellini.... Frantz Salieri
Starring	Ruggero Raimondi Ruggero Raimondi Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer and sometime screen actor.... John Macurdy John Macurdy John Macurdy is an esteemed American operatic Bass . Among his teachers was the contralto Elisabeth Wood, who was also the pedagogue of Norman Treigle.... Edda Moser Edda Moser Edda Moser is a German soprano.... Kiri Te Kanawa Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa, Order of New Zealand, Order of the British Empire, Order of Australia, is a New Zealand soprano who had a highly successful international opera career between 1968-2004.... Kenneth Riegel José van Dam José van Dam Joseph, Baron van Damme , known under the pseudonym Jos? van Dam, is a Belgium bass-baritone.Jos? van Dam was born in Brussels on August 25, 1940.... Teresa Berganza Teresa Berganza The Spanish opera singer Teresa Berganza is one of the foremost mezzo-sopranos of the third quarter of the 20th century. She is most closely associated with the roles of Gioachino Rossini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Georges Bizet.... Malcolm King Eric Adjani
Music by	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always...
Cinematography	Angelo Filippini Gerry Fisher Gerry Fisher Gerry Fisher, B.S.C. is an England cinematographer. In 1976 in film Fisher was nominated for the Best Cinematography Award by the British Society of Cinematographers, for Aces High ....
Editing by	Reginald Beck Emma Menenti
Distributed by	Artificial Eye Artificial eye Artificial eye can refer to:* Visual prosthesis: A functioning implant designed to restore sight.* Ocular prosthesis: A non-functioning cosmetic replacement for a lost eye.... (UK) New Yorker Films New Yorker Films New Yorker Films was an independent film distribution company founded in 1965 by Daniel Talbot. It started as an extension of his movie house, the New Yorker Theatre, after he discovered he was unable to obtain certain foreign titles for exhibition.... (US) Gaumont (France)
Release date(s)	1979 1979 in film The year 1979 in film involved some significant events....
Running time	185 min. (France)
Country	France/Italy/UK/Germany
Language	Italian
Budget	7,000,000 US dollars (estimated)

Don Giovanni is a 1979 film adaptation of Mozart's classic opera

Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with Italian language libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered in the Estates Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787 in music....
, based on the Don Juan

Don Juan

Don Juan or Don Giovanni is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra, by Tirso de Molina, is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630....
legend of a seducer destroyed by his excesses. The film has generally been praised as one of the finer adaptations of opera to the big screen. The movie was re-released on DVD

DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
in 2008.

Plot summary

In the opera the action supposedly takes place in Spain, but Mozart's librettist Da Ponte wrote in Italian, and this film successfully uses locations in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
and the Veneto

Veneto

Veneto or Venetia , is one of the 20 Regions of Italy of Italy. Its population is about 4.8 million, and its capital is Venice. Once the cradle of the renowned Republic of Venice, then a land of mass emigration, Veneto is today among the wealthiest and most industrialized regions of Italy....
.

The following plot summary could equally be applied to the original opera. After an unsuccessful attempt to seduce Donna Anna (soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
Edda Moser

Edda Moser

Edda Moser is a German soprano....
), Don Giovanni (bass Ruggero Raimondi

Ruggero Raimondi

Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer and sometime screen actor....
) kills her father Il Commendatore (bass John Macurdy

John Macurdy

John Macurdy is an esteemed American operatic Bass . Among his teachers was the contralto Elisabeth Wood, who was also the pedagogue of Norman Treigle....
). The next morning, Giovanni meets Donna Elvira (soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Kiri Te Kanawa

Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa, Order of New Zealand, Order of the British Empire, Order of Australia, is a New Zealand soprano who had a highly successful international opera career between 1968-2004....
), a woman he previously seduced and abandoned. Later, Giovanni happens upon the preparations for a peasant wedding and tries to seduce the bride-to-be Zerlina (mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano

A mezzo-soprano is a type of European classical music female voice type whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above ....
Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza

The Spanish opera singer Teresa Berganza is one of the foremost mezzo-sopranos of the third quarter of the 20th century. She is most closely associated with the roles of Gioachino Rossini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Georges Bizet....
), but his ambition is frustrated by Donna Elvira.

Donna Anna soon realizes that Giovanni killed her father, and she pursues the seducer along with her fiance Don Ottavio (tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
Kenneth Riegel). Ever ready to attempt a seduction, Giovanni woos Elvira's maid. As part of his plans, he switches clothes with his servant Leporello (bass-baritone

Bass-baritone

A bass-baritone is a high-lying Bass that shares certain qualities with the baritone voice type.The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Richard Wagner roles: the Dutchman in The Flying Dutchman , Wotan/Der Wanderer in the Ring Cycle and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von N?rnbe...
José van Dam

José van Dam

Joseph, Baron van Damme , known under the pseudonym Jos? van Dam, is a Belgium bass-baritone.Jos? van Dam was born in Brussels on August 25, 1940....
), who rapidly finds himself in trouble with people who mistake him for his master. Leporello flees and eventually meets Giovanni at the cemetery where Il Commendatore is buried. They jokingly invite the statue at his grave to dinner. While they are dining, the supernaturally revivified statue arrives, and the horrified Giovanni is drawn into an open-pit fire.

Criticism and evaluation

The Production Design by Alexandre Trauner

Alexandre Trauner

Alexandre Trauner was a set designer.After studying painting at l'?cole des beaux-arts de Budapest, he emigrated to Paris in 1929, where he became the assistant of set designer Lazare Meerson, working on such films as ? nous la libert? in 1932 and La Kermesse h?ro?que in 1935)....
won a César Award

César Award

The C?sar Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Acad?mie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema....
in 1980. The cinematography

Cinematography

Cinematography , is the making of Stage lighting and camera choices when recording photographic s for the film. It is closely related to the art of photography....
is lush with many scenes set in visually appealing locations, such as the Villa Rotonda or gondolas gliding through the canals of Venice.

The film casts some of the best opera singers of its day. Notable set-pieces of the opera, including the catalogue aria and the duet of Giovanni and Zerlina (Là ci darem la mano), are handled well. However, the sound has been criticised for being recorded in an over-reverberant acoustic. There has also been criticism of the operatic scale of acting

Acting

Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a Fictional character and, usually, Speech communication or singing the written text or Play ....
by some of the performers, which does not always translate convincingly to the movie screen.

External links

at About.com
About.com

About.com is an online source for original information and advice,and was among the top 15 US Websites . It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans....