DIVA

France, 1982, 123 minutes, Colour.
Wilhemena Wiggins Fernandez, Frederic Andrei, Richard Bohringer, Thuy An Luu, Dominique Pinon.
Directed by Jean- Jacques Beneix.

Diva made quite a mixed with the impact in the early 1980s. Its director, Jean- Jacques Beneix, had a peak career in the 1980s, following this with Moon in the Gutter, Betty Blue, also considered a classic, and Roselynne and the Lions.

In many ways, this film could be called a thriller, with a young post office worker recording the work of an opera singer and becoming involved with criminals who are after his record. This means quite some fast-paced action.

But, in many ways, Diva could be called a musical, starting from its very title, the presence and performance of Wilheminia Wiggins Fernandez and the beauty of her singing as well as the background score.

But, there is also an intellectual content, reflections on the meaning of life, career, especially with the sequences with the diva herself when she gives the reasons for her not wanting her voice to be recorded.

The film continues to be of interest even though it is anchored in the 1980s.


1. The cult reputation of the film? Critical acclaim? Popularity? The nature of its appeal, its style and flair? The technical aspects? Complementing the content?

2. The work of the director, his French perspective? Universal story? Contemporary but timeless? A picture of opposites? The insights?

3. Technique, colour photography, the use of sound, camera work, movement, motion within the frame, pace and editing? Opera performance? Chases? Thriller techniques? Special effects?

4. The use of conventions: the existential drama, the hero, wandering? Ordinary life? The life of the fan? Encountering some meaning? City life? Detection and the thriller, the police? Drug lords and chases? I speak murders? The realist and the surrealist? Symbolic? Types, characters, situations? Audience expectations and acceptance of the conventions?

5. The music, ordinary, the score and its moods? The opera selections, La Wally? The chorus? Beauty and art? Dignity of the opera singer and her performance? Presence? Traditional opera, the tape recordings, the ear pieces, the exploitation of the records?

6. The introduction, the framing? The title? The diva in herself, her work, the concerts, self-image, manager? The pressures? The cutthroat world? Friendly, the interests? Relationships and responses? Isolation, grand? Hearing herself and the effect? Unwilling to be recorded? The echo/ mirror? Jules and his reaction?

7. Jules, his age, as a character, his lifestyle, his moped? His delivering the mail? His admiration for the diva, seeing her, taping her, witnessing the murder, the other tape put in his bag? The Vietnamese girl, bond? Her shoplifting and her methods? Her companion? The tape of the Diva and the pursuit by the Taiwanese? Meeting the diva, accompanying her? His admiration for her and its effect? His friends? The chase through the metro? The phone, fainting? The tattered room? The crisis, the confrontation, saved? The end for the defense?

8. Gorodich and the girl, the bonds, friendship, discussions, the tape, the criminal and the lighthouse, Goderich and the phone, the confrontation, the police chief, death?

9. The criminal situation, Nadia, the chase and her death? The informer, the information, death? The police and action, the puzzle? The detectives and the pursuit, the tape? Jules after being chased? Thwarted, his apartment? The man being shot, the girl saved?

10. The chief, the double game, the tapes?

11. The thugs, their appearance, glasses, the hearing aid? The car and the pursuit? The killings and the tape? Chasing Jules? The confrontation, the phone booth, the apartment?

12. The blend in content and look, thriller and opera performance?

13. The status of the film as a classic?