MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: La Boheme (a film by Robert Dornhelm)

"…Bohème has attracted filmmakers since silent days, but never as convincingly as this. …Oscar-nominated director Robert Dornhelm lends the story a darker glow, with Bertrand de Billy's soft-centred but warm conducting and two superb star performances. Villazón as Rodolfo, less... sings with a focused intensity which at time recalls Caruso, and makes a scruffily credible hero... Netrebko's creamy-voiced Mimì is no naïve little seamstress; her scarlet satin and glamour-girl make-up suggests she's been around... but her anguish in Act III is no less heartfelt. Dornhelm's sombrely sumptuous images capture a credibly chilly, squalid, yet defiantly romantic milieu. ...the lovers' sheer intensity and Dornhelm's cinematic vision, expanded in the accompanying documentary, make this one of the finest opera films ever - unmissable." BBC Music Magazine, April 2009 *****

Giacomo Puccini's immortal opera in a high budget feature-film version directed by Academy Award nominee Robert Dornhelm, stars opera's 'Golden Couple', Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko as the protagonists, Rodolfo and Mimi. The chemistry between them is electric, unrivaled in the theatre today. Russian soprano Anna Netrebko is not only beautiful but has a marvelous voice and technique; on the other hand Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon, has a wonderful voice and an incredible charisma.

The excellent bonus features include fascinating interviews with all the key performers and the director, who confirms that he not only wanted to remain steadfastly faithful to Puccini's design but also document two of the leading singers of the modern age rather than embarking on some kind of trendy contemporary re-creation.