Aria (1987) review

Ten filmmakers are asked to put together a short film, each inspired by a famous aria from the world of opera, and place their own 'personal touches' on them: Roeg dresses up his (then) wife Theresa Russell as King Zog for his take on Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Buck Henry cheats on his spouse with an actress (Beverly D'Angelo) which is set to Rigoletto, Roddam uses Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for his segment featuring a couple (Bridget Fonda and James Mathers) who drive to Las Vegas and commit suicide in the bathtub, etc.  Despite my Italian heritage (sorry ancestors), I've never cared much for opera and know little about it and unfortunately this experiment not only fails to provide any sort of tangible explanation (scholars are best equipped to 'interpret' it) but the sections do not mesh gracefully.  Those flaws aside, this is the kind of ambitious project that doesn't seem to get funded anymore, and I personally like the filthy outfits and smeared makeup on the mentally-ill audience for Altman's approach to Rameau's Abaris ou les Boréades and Jarman's version of Charpentier's Louise is grainy and pleasingly nostalgic.  But my favorite is JLG's 'contemporary' interpretation of Lully's Armide, which features young ladies dancing around distracted bodybuilders: all you need to make a movie are pretty nude girls with sharp knives.