Norma (1981)

Exhibited under the TV programme Great Performances. The performance took place in May 4, 1981, at the O'Keefe Centre, in Toronto (today it is called the Meridian Hall).

Opera with music by Vincenzo Bellini and libretto by Felice Romani, based on the play Norma, ou l'infanticide by Alexandre Soumet. Both opera and play came to light in 1831.

The action is set in Gaul around 100-50 BC, when that region was under Roman occupation. A high priestess has an forbidden affair with a Roman proconsul. He then tires of her and starts an affair with a younger priestess.

Now, this is madness at its awsomest. I honestly don't know how much of this is based on real customs of the time and place, but I found the whole thing totally ridiculous. The soldiers want to rebel against the occupiers but must wait for the permission of a zany woman who not only has an affair with the enemy but has had two (!) children with him (where does she hide them, for Christ's sake?). But absurdity piles on absurdity here: now the younger priestess, who is also in love with the same guy (which society would survive with a religious class like this -- oh wait!), for some obscure reason renounces him in favor of her older rival. I will not proceed  with this; suffice it to say that there is a marvellous dreamlike quality to all this nonsense, and that the music is beautifully soothing.

I really can't assess the performances; for my taste they were all just perfect. The video quality is not very good, and the subtitles are absent for most of the duration. The filming of the thing seems to have some terrible framing flaws at times, but it could be a defect of the DVD transfer.

I will not give this a rating because it is not really a regular movie.