Bizet's Dream

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Produced in 1995.
Bonus features include: historical notes; Liszt: soundtrack; cast of characters; photo gallery.
Maurice Godin, Brittany Madgett, R.H. Thomson, Catherine Barroll, Yseult Lendvai, Vlastimil Harapes, Sally Cahill, Jackie Harris, Joan Heney.
Music in the film performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Ondréj Lenard, conductor.
"Twelve-year-old Michelle Marin doesn't like her piano teacher. Monsieur Bizet is irritable, forgetful, aloof-- distracted by a failing marriage and the rigors of composing his new opera. But as the composer begins to tell Michelle the story of the gypsy, Carmen, her imagination is captured. For, just as in Bizet's opera, her soldier father is stationed in Seville ... and she fears he will never return. Set in Paris, in 1875, the video is the story of an unusual friendship between two people who share the ability to feel life deeply and a beautifully filmed testament to the power of music to set those feelings free."--Container.
DVD; Dolby digital stereo.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Interesting for young opera fans but also a bit direct submitted by willow on September 28, 2016, 1:35pm This movie depicts a presumably fictional incident between Georges Bizet and Michelle, his young piano student while he is writing "Carmen." Michelle's father is in Spain, and she is losing confidence that he will return, and Bizet suspects his wife of infidelity. Michelle begins to worry about her father's behavior and if he is cheating on her mother. Meanwhile, two of the most famous songs in "Carmen" are depicted, Habanera (L'amour est un oiseau rebelle) and Toreador (Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre) but not sung -- instead, the tune plays while actors dance and the plot is summarized. As Michelle travels to Bizet's home, numerous women who appear to be prostitutes lurk around, including in his neighbor's art studio, and numerous drunk and shady men lurk in the alleyways with them after dark. They are never explicitly discussed, but are always dressed scantily and acting slightly scandalously. These elements of sexual impropriety made the movie seem a bit advanced for young children. It also depicts Carmen being bloodlessly stabbed and falling to the ground, but does not actually state that is what happens or that she is dead.