© Warner Music Vision Ballet Teatro Espanol reviews Janet McNulty reviews

This DVD is a film of a live performance. It starts with Bizet’s music and mean and moody shots of Carmen then moves onto an ensemble scene with traditional flamenco music. The production seems to follow the opera libretto and I found it easy to follow without a synopsis.

Throughout the performance the music continues to be a mixture of Bizet and flamenco, which, on the whole, works. For a dance film, I thought that there were too many close-ups of the dancers' heads and shoulders or torsos and not enough of the feet. I appreciate that when a live performance is being filmed it is hard to strike a balance between the overall picture and close-ups of the action but I feel that in this DVD close-ups are over-weighted.

That said, there are some good ensemble dances shown nearly in full and shot from different angles. It’s just unfortunate that the overhead shots of the swirling skirts reminded me of nothing as much as a recent advertisement for mayonnaise!

Particularly in the first half hour, the camera pans to the audience - very irritating when the dancing is starting - you can hear the dancers tapping in the background. Also the lighting is very dark in places and it is hard to see what is happening on stage.
 

© Warner Music Vision

Highlights are the duel between Carmen and one of the girls, and later the fight scene that results in Carmen being arrested. There is a very erotic duet for Carmen and Jose, but there was no scene-building to explain why they ended up in this duet. Later on there is another very sexy dream sequence. The toreador scene near the end is very atmospheric, with the toreador using his cloak to entice mist-enshrouded dancers towards him.

There is enough exciting dance in this DVD to entice me to see a live performance but ultimately I found it quite hard to watch and just wish the director had taken some lessons from Carlos Saura on how to film flamenco!

But keep watching to the bitter end and there are some good encores in the curtain calls...