Carmen

Seville in the early nineteenth century. Carmen binds the sergeant Don José to her, and he deserts the army and dismantles his own life for it. Meanwhile she turns toward the bullfighter Escamillo, and José's jealousy goes somewhere it cannot come back from. Bizet's opera is sung here with a full cast. Francesco Rosi shot it not on a soundstage but in Andalusia, in real squares and dusty streets, using the place itself instead of scenery. Julia Migenes is Carmen, Plácido Domingo is José, Ruggero Raimondi is Escamillo. Carmen's Roma identity sits at the centre of the story, and the film declines to treat it as exotic decoration.