Don Giovanni
Directed by	Joseph Losey Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey was an American 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 Michel Seydoux Michel Seydoux is a French businessman and movie producer. He also serves as the president and chairman of French club Lille OSC. Seydoux is the grandson of scientist Marcel Schlumberger and has two brothers; Jérôme and Nicolas. Jérôme is a shareholder on football club Olympique Lyonnais.-External...
Written by	Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....  (libretto) Rolf Liebermann Rolf Liebermann Rolf Liebermann , was a Swiss composer and music administrator born in Zurich, and associated with several different musical genres. His output included chansons, classical, and light music. His classical music often combines myriad styles and techniques, including those drawn from baroque,... Joseph Losey Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey was an American 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 (producer) Renzo Rossellini is an Italian film producer and screenwriter, son of Roberto Rossellini. He has produced 64 films since 1964... Frantz Salieri
Starring	Ruggero Raimondi Ruggero Raimondi Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.-Early training and career:Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II... 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.- Début in New Orleans :... Edda Moser Edda Moser Edda Moser is a German soprano. She was particularly well-known for her interpretations of music by Mozart. Her 1973 recital LP "Virtuoso Arias by W. A... Kiri Te Kanawa Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array... Kenneth Riegel José van Dam José van Dam Joseph, Baron van Damme , known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone.At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance... Teresa Berganza Teresa Berganza Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :... Malcolm King Eric Adjani
Music by	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
Cinematography	Angelo Filippini Gerry Fisher Gerry Fisher Gerry Fisher, B.S.C. is an English cinematographer. In 1976 Fisher was nominated for the Best Cinematography Award by the British Society of Cinematographers, for Aces High, and in 1977 was nominated for a BAFTA Award for the same film...
Editing by	Reginald Beck Reginald Beck Reginald Beck was a British film editor with forty-nine credits. He was born in Russia, but his family emigrated to Britain while still a child. He began working in the film industry in 1927 when he joined Gainsborough Pictures before going on to work on quota quickies at Wembley Studios... Emma Menenti
Distributed by	Artificial Eye Artificial eye Artificial eye may refer to:* Visual prosthesis, functioning implant designed to restore sight* Ocular prosthesis, non-functioning cosmetic replacement for a lost eye...  (UK) New Yorker Films New Yorker Films New Yorker Films is an independent film distribution company founded by Daniel Talbot in 1965. It started as an extension of his Manhattan movie house, the New Yorker Theater, after he discovered he was unable to obtain certain foreign titles for exhibition....  (US) Gaumont Gaumont Film Company Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....  (France)
Release date(s)	1979 1979 in film The year 1979 in film involved some significant events.- Major events :* March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.* May 25 - Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released....
Running time	185 min. (France)
Country	France/Italy/UK/Germany
Language	Italian
Budget	7,000,000 US dollars (estimated)
IMDb profile

Don Giovanni is a 1979 film adaptation of Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

's classic opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...

, based on the Don Juan

Don Juan

Don Juan 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 stars Ruggero Raimondi in the title role. The director is Joseph Losey and the conductor Lorin Maazel

Lorin Maazel

Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...

. 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

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 in 2008.

Plot summary

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 middle C 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. She was particularly well-known for her interpretations of music by Mozart. Her 1973 recital LP "Virtuoso Arias by W. A...

), Don Giovanni (baritone Ruggero Raimondi

Ruggero Raimondi

Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.-Early training and career:Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II...

) 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.- Début in New Orleans :...

). The next morning, Giovanni meets Donna Elvira (soprano Kiri Te Kanawa

Kiri Te Kanawa

Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...

), 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 classical female singing voice 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

Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :...

), 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 singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 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 or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...

 José van Dam

José van Dam

Joseph, Baron van Damme , known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone.At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance...

), 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 animated statue arrives, and the horrified Giovanni is drawn into an open-pit fire.

Production

In the opera, the action supposedly takes place in Spain, but Mozart's librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....

 wrote in Italian, and this film successfully uses locations in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 and the Veneto

Veneto

Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

. In particular, the film features buildings by Palladio in and around the city of Vicenza

Vicenza

Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...

 (Basilica Palladiana

Basilica Palladiana

The Basilica Palladiana is a Renaissance building in the central Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza, north-eastern Italy. The most notable feature of the edifice is the loggia, which shows one of the first examples of the what came to be known as the Palladian window, designed by a young Andrea...

, Villa Rotonda and Teatro Olimpico

Teatro Olimpico

The Teatro Olimpico is a theatre in Vicenza, northern Italy: constructed in 1580-1585, it is the oldest surviving enclosed theatre in the world. The theatre was the final design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, Renaissance, and was not completed until after his death...

).

The total budget for the film was about $7,000,000.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079063/business

Criticism and evaluation

The Production Design by Alexandre Trauner

Alexandre Trauner

Alexandre Trauner was a set designer.After studying painting at l'École 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 À nous la liberté in 1932 and La Kermesse héroïque in 1935)...

 won a César Award

César Award

The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....

 in 1980.
The cinematography

Cinematography

Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still 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 character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....

 by some of the performers, which does not always translate convincingly to the movie screen.

External links

• Review of Don Giovanni at About.com
  About.com
  About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
  
  
• Gaumont DVD