La traviata

An opera film set in Paris. Violetta is ill. At the opening she is in her bed and her house is being emptied; the furniture is being sold. The narrative goes back from there. She is a well-known courtesan of Paris. Her house is crowded, the parties constant, and everyone wants her. One night Alfredo is introduced. A young man from the provinces who has been watching her from a distance for a long time. Violetta does not take his interest seriously. Then she does. The two leave the city. They settle in a house in the country. Violetta sells everything she owns. She gives up the arrangement that financed her life and does not tell Alfredo. From there the film becomes a story of intervention. Alfredo's father comes. He talks to Violetta. There is the family's standing to consider. His daughter's engagement is in danger because of this affair. He asks her to leave him. She agrees. And does not say why. Alfredo believes he has been abandoned. He humiliates her in front of everyone at a party. What the narrative is interested in is not love but silence: the whole tragedy of the opera comes from her refusing to explain the sacrifice she made. The last section returns to that room. Violetta dies and the truth is learned far too late. Franco Zeffirelli shot the opera not as a stage recording but as a film. The sets were built full size, the camera moves, and mirrors and soft dissolves are used. The music was recorded first and the singers performed to it on set. Teresa Stratas and Plácido Domingo take the leads; both are opera singers. James Levine conducted. The film was nominated for the costume and production design Oscars. Who it is for: anyone who likes opera and is curious about stage works brought to cinema. Who it is not for: anyone expecting narrative; this is an opera and its plot only makes sense with the music.