Diva (1981)

Diva, released in 1981, was the first feature film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix and it also launched the cinéma du look movement in French film. One of the major criticisms of this movement is that it emphasised style over substance. We’ll get back to that.

Jules (Frédéric Andréi) is a young postman obsessed by opera singer Cynthia Hawkins

(Wilhelmenia Fernandez). He has made an illegal recording of one of her concerts. Since she has never made a legal recording this bootleg tape is potentially worth a lot of money although Jules is only interested in it for his own pleasure. There are people who want that tape and they have seen hoodlums after Jules in order to get it.

There’s another tape recording, made by a prostitute, which contains evidence that could bring down a criminal empire based on the smuggling of drugs and women. Just before the prostitute is killed she slips the tape into one of the panniers of Jules’ moped.

There’s another set of hoodlums pursuing poor Jules. They want that incriminating tape.

So there are two plots running in tandem. There are two sound recordings. Two sets of bad guys. Jules will become entangled with two women. Everything in this movie comes in pairs.

The two plots become fairly convoluted. Jules can’t really trust anybody. People are not necessarily what they seem to be. Jules is in over his head.

Gorodish (Richard Bohringer) may be on his side. Gorodish is an enigmatic figure. He seems to be passive but as the movie progresses he becomes more active and more important. There’s also Gorodish’s cute young roller-skating Vietnamese girlfriend Alba although whether she is actually his girlfriend isn’t quite clear. Things are not always as they seem to be in this movie.

Jules is more than a little obsessed by Cynthia Hawkins. He bluffs his way into her hotel room. He steals one of her dresses and gets a prostitute to wear the dress while he has sex with her. Then he gives the dress back to Cynthia. Yes, Jules is an odd young man.

Jules steadily becomes more obsessed by Cynthia.

There’s another murder. There are several cleverly staged chases. Jules has lots of narrow escapes. There’s gunplay. Things get blow up. The two plot strands never quite come together but that adds to the paranoia. Jules doesn’t know which set of bad guys will come after him next.

Apart from the obsession with doubles there’s a running theme of artificiality opposed to reality. Some things are real. Some things appear real. Cynthia will not record her voice because she believes that only a live performance is authentic.

This is certainly a visually stunning movie. The loft in which Jules lives is wonderful - lots of wrecked cars plus paintings of car accidents about to happen (appropriate since Jules’ life is an accident waiting to happen). Other sets and locations are equally impressive and mostly with a touch of the surreal or the hyper-real. There’s not much in this movie that we can confidently say corresponds to normal everyday reality. It’s not a case of dreams being confused with reality but perhaps more a case of art opposed to reality.

Beineix loved comic books and the movie does at time have a slight comic book look.

The Blu-Ray release includes a partial commentary track by Jean-Jacques Beineix. It’s interesting in revealing his thinking and mostly it’s interesting because it reveals just how trite his thinking was. Advertising has become all-pervasive. There’s a conflict between art and commercialism. Industrial design (such as car design) can be art. Wow, that’s all just so deep and profound. It’s what you’d expect from a first year film student.

Which gets us back to the style over substance argument. Personally I think you’ll appreciate this movie more if you see it as an exercise in pure style. Forget the substance. Who needs substance when when you can come up with style as impressive as this?

Diva is a must-see movie purely for its stylistic flourishes. While it came out right at the beginning of the decade Diva does have a very 80s look, but in a good way. And it is a lot of fun. Highly recommended.

Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray looks great and includes lots of extras for those who are into that sort of thing (I’m not).