Don Giovanni (1979 film)

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Don Giovanni

Directed by	Joseph Losey
Produced by	Robert Nador Michel Seydoux
Written by	Lorenzo da Ponte (libretto) Raul Lieberman Joseph Losey Paricia Losey Renzo Rossellini Frantz Salieri
Starring	Ruggero Raimondi John Macurdy Edda Moser Kiri Te Kanawa Kenneth Riegel José van Dam Teresa Berganza Malcolm King Eric Adjani
Music by	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cinematography	Angelo Filippini Gerry Fisher
Editing by	Reginald Beck Emma Menenti
Distributed by	Artificial Eye (UK) New Yorker Films (US)Gaumont (France)
Release date(s)	1979
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's classic opera Don Giovanni. Based on the Don Juan 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 is currently available on DVD.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

This film version sets the action in Venice. After an unsuccessful attempt to seduce Donna Anna (soprano Edda Moser) Don Giovanni (bass Ruggero Raimondi) kills her father Il Commandante. The next morning, Giovanni meets Donna Elvira (soprano Kiri Te Kanawa), 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 Teresa Berganza), 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 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 (baritone José Van Dam), 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 Commandante 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.

[edit] Criticism and evaluation

The movie has been praised for its lush cinematography, with many scenes set in visually appealing locations, such as classically furnished villas or gondolas gliding through the canals of Venice. Notable set pieces of the opera, including the Catalogue Aria and the duet of Giovanni and Zerlina, are also handled well. The film has been criticized for the operatic scale of acting by some of the performers, which does not always translate convincingly to the movie screen.