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Diva Details

1981 DVD Certificate 12.gif
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 2100 members

Jean-Jacques Beineix's debut film is a stylish, hilarious, and audacious thriller that had many critics comparing Beineix's innovative technique to that of Orson Welles at the time of the film's release. DIVA stars Frederic Andrei as Jules, a young Parisian messenger who is obsessed with a beautiful American opera singer who .. Read more

Starring Richard Bohringer, Dominique Pinon, Wilhelmenia Fernandez
Director Jean-Jacques Beineix
Genres Drama

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Diva

Jean-Jacques Beineix's debut film is a stylish, hilarious, and audacious thriller that had many critics comparing Beineix's innovative technique to that of Orson Welles at the time of the film's release. DIVA stars Frederic Andrei as Jules, a young Parisian messenger who is obsessed with a beautiful American opera singer who refuses to make recording of her performances. Determined to capture her voice on tape, Jules manages to make an excellent recording of her which is promptly stolen from him and replaced with a tape that incriminates a French politician, causing Jules to become of a pair of French hitmen. Featuring a quirky sense of humor, enormous visual style, wonderful music, and an unforgettable subway motorcycle chase scene, DIVA is among the best and most influential films of the 1980s.

Starring Richard Bohringer, Dominique Pinon, Wilhelmenia Fernandez
Director Jean-Jacques Beineix
Studio OPTIMUM RELEASING
Run time DVD: 1 hr 53 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate 12.gif
Genres Drama
Language English
Released DVD: 03 May 2004
Production year: 1981
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (2) of Diva

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    Considered one of the masterpieces of cinéma du look (the name given to French films of the 1980s in which style took precedence over content), Diva marked the directorial debut of Jean-Jacques Beineix. It's a dazzling job, brimful with bravura camera movements and ultra-chic images. The tale of two tapes (one a bootlegged recording of an opera star, the other incriminating evidence against a police inspector) rather gets lost as Beineix experiments with styles ranging from the Feuillade serials of the early years of the last century to the New Wave of the 1950s and 1960s. Yet this remains compelling viewing, if only for the amazing performance of Dominique Pinon (Delicatessen).

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Marvellous amalgam of sadistic thriller and fairytale romance, drawing on a wild diversity of genres from film noir to... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Diva

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  • 10 out of 10 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    A disappointment 2nd time around

    Saw this at the cinema when it first came out and thought it was wonderful. Twenty something years later and a lot of the gloss has worn off. I guess we were all dazzled by the then ultra cool attitude and stylish visual pop-culture flourishes. It has all been done so many times since then, with so much more panache, flair and technical excellence, that what was once beguiling now seems rather pedestrian. There are still some delightful moments of wit (the onion chopping scene, the Gitane-Bleu pad, the goon who doesn't like anything, Ayatollah the cat), Wilhemenia Fernandez's opera singer is wonderful and that voice is out of this world. But the pace is often plodding, the editing somewhat clunky, the colour is garish, the characters seem desperately pretentious rather than effortlessly cool, the 'stupid' french cops are about as funny as Cannon and Ball and what was once chic tongue in cheek irony now comes across as a lack of realism which takes all the tension out of what was meant to be a slick little thriller. One for the film studies course rather than an entertaining evening.

    • Grimmy
      • Grimmy from Up North
      • Posted 06 Jul 2007 15:36

  • Most recent members' review of Diva

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  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Tres bon!

    Occaisionally over-the-top in terms of it's styling, this tale of a motorcycle postman and an opera diva is never less than compelling. The debut from director Jean-Jaques Beineix is a benchmark for others to follow, and the subway train chase has all the hallmarks of a classic of its kind.

      • Gary P from Peterborough, England
      • Posted 08 Jul 2004 16:33

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      • Jean-Jacques Beineix's debut film is a stylish, hilarious, and audacious thriller that had many critics comparing Beineix's innovative technique to that of Orson Welles at the time of the film's ...