Sorry, this movie sucks

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is where I found this French film, it had a good sounding title and was rated well by critics, so I looked forward to what it would offer. Basically in Paris, France, young postman Jules (Frédéric Andréi) lives a bohemian lifestyle, and he has a small circle of friends, but more than anything he is a great fan of opera, especially the beautiful, celebrated and exceptional American opera singer Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez). Cynthia has never had her voice or performances recorded, and refuses to do so, Jules attends her latest performance, and being obsessive secretly and illegally records it on cassette tape, he also steals the gown she wore from her dressing room. One night Jules is travelling on his moped, prostitute Nadia Kalonsky (Chantal Deruaz) drops another tape into his bag, it contains the prostitute's testimony about high-ranking police Inspector Jean Saporta (Jacques Fabbri), as the boss of various rackets, she is murdered after the drop. Jules is now in danger from Taiwanese gangsters seeking the Hawkins tape, and from Saporta's enforcers who want the testimony, inadvertently tangled in a conspiracy of murder he finds refuge with his new friends, mysterious bohemian Serge Gorodish (Richard Bohringer) and his muse young Vietnamese-French woman Alba (Thuy An Luu). Feeling guilty, Jules returns Hawkins's dress, she is initially angry, but does forgive him and is intrigued by his adoration of her, they form a kind of romantic relationship, she meanwhile is being blackmailed by the Taiwanese into recording for them, claiming they have a copy of her performance. Saporta sends his henchmen to take care of Jules and the testimony tape, there is a chase through the PArisian subways, Jules is rescued by Gorodish, but he is almost killed by Saporta himself when returning home, but Gorodish saves him again and forces Saporta to fall down an elevator shaft. In the end Jules plays the tape of Cynthia's performance for her, she is nervous as she has never heard herself sing, and all the crime gangster and corruption stuff seems to disappear and things settle. Also starring Roland Bertin as Simon Weinstadt, Gérard Darmon as Spic, Dominique Pinon as Le Curé, Jean-Jacques Moreau as Krantz and Patrick Floersheim as Zatopek. It is a simple story, a bootlegged recording tape and a tape containing incriminating evidence getting mixed up, and the innocent bystander caught in the middle, it does get a bit in experimentation of style, but it has great camera-work and imagery throughout, and the operatic music is always a joy to listen to, all in all it is a compelling cult crime drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!

The french touch of the new wave era.A story built around Catallani's La Wally aria with a Diva who never makes records, some notorious businessmen from Taiwan, a corrupted chief policeman and a postman, all skillfully webbed. Inspired and inspiring, fresh, edgy and stylish nourished my personal myth (i even thought of becoming a postman!) and i must admit it still does.There is an undoubted elegance throughout the film that leaves a gentle savor so sensually purifying.I envy so much the morning walk among the statues in the awakening Paris.NOT TO BE MISSED

The French cinematic phenomenon known as cinéma du look was kicked off with this debut film from director Jean-Jacques Beineix. These films were typified by a focus on stylish presentation over deep substance. Diva is a film that illustrates this type of movie very well.A young opera lover surreptitiously tapes the performance of a diva. The famous singer has never been recorded before believing that art should be experienced live not reproduced; unsurprisingly she is livid when she discovers there is a bootleg of her performance out there. Add to the mix two Taiwanese mafia hoods who want the tape and two French gangsters who are on the hunt for a different tape that gets mixed up in the chaos; their tape exposes corruption in high places, including the international trafficking of women into prostitution.For me this is not only the first cinéma du look film but also the best one. The reason for this is that I think its story engages more than the other entries in the cycle. The plot-line is quite complicated with various characters involved in their own agendas all linked to one and other. The combining of high art with pulp genre became something that these films would become associated with but it's here, with the combination of opera music interlinked with a thriller narrative that it's done the most effectively. The characters are varied and interesting too, from the bike courier, to the diva of the title, the roller-skating Vietnamese girl, her eccentric older lover, two East Asian criminals and two French thugs (one of whom is an iconic looking Dominique Pinon in his debut film appearance). It also has a bona fide excellent action set-piece where we witness a motorcycle chase through the Paris subway. To top this all off, it's photographed beautifully, with some very distinctive sets and interesting fusions of old with new and high art with commercial reproduction. With it's combination of Pop Art imagery, eccentric characters and beautiful Parisian locations, Diva has a lot going for it. All-in-all, this is stylish 80s French cinema at its best.

This film has loads of style and some quirky humour. It doesn't make much sense from time to time, but it does keep you watching.It's set in Paris and it's an intrigue chase type thriller. There are twists and turns galore.I liked the Paris montage, but there is opera and I liked this less. To listen and see a scene of a woman singing arias may be music to some people, but not to others like me; however she is a most beautiful woman so at least that kept my attention.This movie is like a bag of potato chips, it's tasty and but once the bag is empty you toss it out.