Aria is a 1987 British film produced by Don Boyd from Virgin Group's visual section consisting of ten short films by a variety of directors.

Each segment features its director's visual accompaniment to arias and scenes from operas. Each film has minimal dialogue (some none at all), with most of the spoken content being the operas' lyrics (libretto) in Italian, French, or German.

The music archive source was RCA Records (which at the time included Erato Records, but later that label went to Warner Music; RCA is now a part of Sony BMG, so this film's music rights are complicated).

The ten segments of the film

Un ballo in maschera

The narrative chronicles the attempted assassination of Albania's King Zog in 1931.

• Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi
• Directed by Nicolas Roeg
• Starring Theresa Russell

"La Vergine Degli Angeli" from La Forza del Destino

Three London teenagers skip school, steal a car and die in a traffic accident.

• Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi
• Directed by Charles Sturridge

Armide

A look at French bodybuilders.

• Music composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully
• Libretto by Philippe Quinault
• Conducted by Philippe Herreweghe
• Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
• Starring Valérie Allain

Rigoletto

At San Luis Obispo's famous Madonna Inn, a movie producer cheats on his wife unaware that she, too, is there with a clandestine lover of her own. Finally, both philanderers are revealed to each other via security-camera footage.

• Music by Giuseppe Verdi
• Directed by Julien Temple
• Starring Buck Henry and Beverly D'Angelo

Die Tote Stadt

A look at the seemingly-dead city of Bruges, Belgium. A beautiful virgin is stripped naked by her lover and, after she expresses her affection for him, she loses her virginity to him.

• Music composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
• Sung by Carol Neblett and René Kollo
• Directed by Bruce Beresford
• Starring Elizabeth Hurley

Abaris ou les Boréades

A re-creation of opening night at Paris's Ranelagh Theater, in 1734. The audience is filled with a raffish (and, perhaps, diseased) assortment of lowlifes and the decadent.

• Music composed by Jean-Philippe Rameau
• Libretto by Louis de Cahusac
• Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
• Directed by Robert Altman
• Starring Julie Hagerty, Geneviève Page, Sandrine Dumas, Chris Campion

"Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde

Two young lovers arrive in Las Vegas. After driving down Glitter Gulch, they check into a cheap hotel room. There they make love and, after that, commit suicide.

• Music composed by Richard Wagner
• Sung by Birgit Nilsson
• Directed by Franc Roddam
• Starring Bridget Fonda, in her first "credited" film role.

"Nessun dorma" from Turandot

A lovely young girl imagines her body is being adorned by jewels until she wakes up in an operating room, where she is receiving emergency care after a car crash.

• Music composed by Giacomo Puccini
• Sung by Jussi Björling
• Directed by Ken Russell
• Starring Linzi Drew

"Depuis le Jour" from Louise

A veteran opera singer gives her final performance, intercut by 8mm home movies of an early love affair.

• Music composed by Gustave Charpentier
• Sung by Leontyne Price
• Directed by Derek Jarman
• Starring Tilda Swinton

"Vesti la Giubba" from I Pagliacci

A has-been virtuoso remembers his happier days while arriving at an opera house, visiting the dressing room, and performing the aria for his audience of one. (This story provides a framework for the rest of the movie.)

• Music composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo
• Directed by Bill Bryden
• Written by Don Boyd
• Starring John Hurt and Sophie Ward

External links