Even with the source music mostly excised, this imaginatively designed, iridescently hued family film from 'Chicken for Linda!' director Sébastien Laudenbach is a vibrant delight.
By Guy Lodge
Plus IconGuy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge See All
Courtesy of Folivari As with most operas, the story was never the primary selling point of “Carmen,” so to adapt it with the music heavily downplayed in favor of the narrative is an audacious move; refashioning this tale of murderous, hot-blooded amour fou as a children’s film, doubly so. But Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera has always been an versatile text on film, withstanding interpretations ranging from Jean-Luc Godard’s postmodern “First Name: Carmen” to the South African township musical “uCarmen-eKhayelitsha” to a Beyoncé-starring “hip-hopera.” So the French animated feature “Viva Carmen” follows in a proud, elastic tradition — and if Sébastien Laudenbach’s film isn’t the hottest “Carmen” ever to hit the screen, it’s certainly the most blazingly bright.
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