‘Carmen’ Review: Paul Mescal and Melissa Barrera Lead an Update of the Old Spanish Tragedy That Has Plenty of Fire But No Real Heat
variety.comGuy Lodge Film Critic “Carmen” didn’t begin life as an opera: French Romantic writer Prosper Mérimée conceived this tale of Spanish passion and tragic jealousy in 1845, thirty years before his compatriot Georges Bizet brought it into its best-known, aria-rich form.
But it’s a story that thrives on operatic delivery, hinging on emotions so large and loud they beg to be sung at the top of one’s lungs.
That makes it the opera that filmmakers can’t leave alone, even as they tend to switch out the music: Its screen interpretations range from Otto Preminger’s Broadway-rooted “Carmen Jones” to Jean-Luc Godard’s daring, Beethoven-infused “First Name: Carmen” to Robert Townsend’s Beyoncé-starring “Carmen: A Hip-Hopera.” With the plainly titled “Carmen,” ballet star and first-time feature director Benjamin Millepied joins that club, mostly eschewing song in an attempt to conjure the material’s intensity through dance.
He is only intermittently successful. Millepied isn’t the first director to fashion “Carmen” as a dance film: The late Carlos Saura’s ravishing 1983 version kept much of Bizet’s music but brought the story to its spiritual home via splendid flamenco choreography.
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