With its “contemporary Video Artist” villain and early MTV style reveries through her lens, it felt strangely dated to me. I suppose, as it was made in 1995, it is just that I have not come to terms with the fact that we are days away from 2010.
After fleeing her own wedding in Caracas with nothing more than a Maria Callas poster and the white dress on her back, Ana flies to Paris to pursue her operatic dreams. In short order she has found herself a Russian singing teacher who, when she suggest singing Rossini, insists she dump the Italians and concentrate on Schubert arias. Frankly, I just can’t get with the sound of German opera. Luckily this is a polyglot of a film with singing and dialog in French, Spanish, Italian, English along with the German arias.
The cast of characters is varied and most are played for the melodramatic. My favorite is the Puerto Rican witch doctor with a suitcase full of charms and potions. Just when I was ready to ditch the movie in favor of folding laundry he would show up again to move things along.
Even the story within the story - Ana landing the lead in Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" ("Cinderella") did not do it for me. I am still on the prowl for an operatic film I can really enjoy…
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