Otello

A film version of Verdi's opera Otello. The commander returning to Cyprus is drawn by his lieutenant Iago into doubting his wife Desdemona's fidelity, and a single handkerchief is enough to destroy a man. The subject is not jealousy but how jealousy is manufactured. Iago never has to tell an outright lie; he only asks the right question at the right moment and lets Otello build the rest himself. The form comes from cinema, not the opera house. Franco Zeffirelli uses real locations, crowds and close-ups, and the singers play to the camera rather than to a hall. There is a price: the vocals were pre-recorded and the lip-sync occasionally shows. Zeffirelli intervened in the score, cutting and interpolating, touching the Willow Song, importing ballet material from the Paris premiere. The opera world split. Martin Bernheimer in the Los Angeles Times accused him of mutilating Verdi. The audio recording made with the same cast is complete, which means the cuts in the film were a deliberate cinematic choice. Plácido Domingo sings Otello, Katia Ricciarelli Desdemona and Justino Díaz Iago. The orchestra and chorus are La Scala's, conducted by Lorin Maazel. Who it is for: anyone curious about opera on film and about Domingo in this role. Who it is not for: viewers who want fidelity to the score; the cuts caused an argument that has never quite closed.