Farinelli

Plot synopsis:
The prologue begins with Carlo Broschi, the famous castrato "Farinelli", reminiscing about his childhood as a singer in the church choir. A newly castrated boy runs in and warns Carlo to stop singing, warning that his voice will result in castration, before leaping to his death. Carlo is so traumatized by this that he is then unwilling to sing when told to by his voice teacher, Nicola Porpora later during his voice lessons. He runs off crying and asking why this the castrato had to die. Carlo's father runs after him, and after comforting him, makes him promise that he will never refuse his voice to his brother Riccardo ever again.
The film opens in Madrid, Spain, at the palace of King Philip V. Riccardo Broschi (Enrico Lo Verso) demands to see his younger brother, the Italian castrato Carlo Broschi (Stefano Dionisi)—better known by his nickname, "Farinelli". Carlo refuses.
The rest of the film is told in flashback. Eighteen years earlier, Carlo and Riccardo watched as an itinerant trumpet player humiliated a young castrato. Angered, Carlo humiliates the trumpeter in turn. The crowd gives Carlo the nickname "Farinelli". When Carlo attempts to have sex with a local woman, Riccardo interrupts, pushing Carlo aside and making love to the girl himself. Meanwhile, George Frideric Handel (Jeroen Krabbé) has heard Farinelli sing from his carriage. He asks Carlo to come to England and perform, but Riccardo demands to be included. Handel sneers at Riccardo as a hack, and humiliates Carlo as a freak, leaving Carlo despondent and Riccardo angry.
Several years pass, and Carlo is now famous. He even impresses the Comtesse Mauer (Marianne Basler), a beautiful and rich young woman more interested in books than opera. The brothers maintain their sexual accommodation: Carlo seduces the comtesse, but Riccardo consummates the sex act. Carlo receives a letter from Handel, who says he intends to hear Carlo sing in Dresden. Before arriving, Carlo suddenly falls ill with a fever. While he is ill, Riccardo tells him the story Carlo has always believed about how he became a castrato—that he had been injured in a fall from a horse, making the castration surgery necessary to save his life. In Dresden, Handel meets with Carlo just before the curtain rises, and tells him the King of England wants him to sing. Unnerved by Handel's offer, Carlo faints on stage. A self-satisfied Handel leaves, leaving Carlo waiting for him in vain.
Carlo is soon thereafter contacted by the young Alexandra Hunter (Elsa Zylberstein), and asked to come to London. Handel's Covent Garden opera house is bankrupting the nearby Nobles Theatre, which is run by Carlo's old vocal teacher, Nicola Porpora (Omero Antonutti). Carlo and Riccardo journey to London. Carlo meets Margareth Hunter (Caroline Cellier), Alexandra's mother, and Benedict (Renaud du Peloux de Saint Romain), Alexandra's crippled younger brother. Carlo begins to fall in love with Alexandra, and dotes on Benedict. Carlo desperately wishes to impress Handel, and Alexandra steals some of Handel's music for Carlo to perform. Carlo realizes that Riccardo's music is vastly inferior to Handel's, and the relationship between the two brothers deteriorates. Searching the Nobles Theatre for his stolen music, Handel hears Riccardo composing. He confronts Riccardo, insinuating that the composer would be better off without "Farinelli". Beguiled by Handel, Riccardo reveals (in a flashback-within-a-flashback) that Carlo was a superb singer as a child. Carlo witnessed a young castrato leap to his death, however, and was deeply traumatized by this. To preserve Carlo's voice before it changed in puberty, Riccardo drugged Carlo, who was seriously ill at the time, and castrated him illegally.
That evening, Handel meets with Farinelli backstage. He reveals that he knows Carlo stole his music, and that he knows the secret of Carlo's castration. Instead of being overcome by doubt, Carlo sings Handel's music (the aria Lascia ch'io pianga ) so beautifully that Handel faints.
The flashback ends. The audience learns that Carlo fled from Riccardo with Alexandra, and has not sung in public since his triumph at the Nobles Theater three years earlier. Carlo has never forgiven Riccardo for castrating him, but Alexandra urges Carlo to do so. Carlo does not do so, but does permit Riccardo to sleep in the horse stables. Carlo sings for King Philip during a solar eclipse. Riccardo realizes his obsession with Carlo has been driven by his own guilt, and decides to ends his pursuit of "Farinelli". Overwhelmed by the pain of his guilt and the broken relationship with his brother, Riccardo slashes his wrist in a suicide attempt as he listens to Carlo sing during the solar eclipse. After falling unconscious from blood loss, he is brought to the house Carlo and Alexandra share, where he recovers. Carlo, realizing his has "eclipsed" his brother, forgives Riccardo for castrating him. Together, the brothers make love to Alexandra.
Some months pass. Alexandra is now pregnant with Riccardo's child, which Carlo and Alexandra treat as their own. The film ends as Riccardo leaves Madrid to seek his fortune as a composer, taking comfort in the fact that in leaving Carlo with a child to father, he has given his brother back his "share of humanity."

Tags: romantic, flashback

Review:
Like Amadeus, the characters in this story have the names and occupations of real people, but their portrayal on the screen is not even caricature: a caricature necessarily starts with something recognizeable.Farinelli was famous in history not merely for a phenomenal voice and outstanding musicianship and musical connoisseurship, but for poise, dignity, and perfect-pitch judgement of human character; he is portrayed throughout as a hysteric.
Handel is shown as a pompous, bullying nervous wreck verging on the psychotic, quite at variance with all reliable accounts of his humor, sturdiness, practicality, and reputation for scrupulous probity toward his musicians and singers.Handel could not have said, to Farinelli, during the latter's first sensational season with the Opera of the Nobility, that he would never write another opera, and not just because Handel was no faux-Freudian opera queen: Lady History inconveniently discloses that after that 1733-34 season Handel composed and presented Ariodante, Alcina, Atalanta, Giustino, Arminio, Berenice, Faramondo, Serse, and Imeneo; his last opera, Deidamia, went unperformed, but several in that list were significant successes, and some were revived more than once.The two rival opera companies in London went down the drain more or less simultaneously, notwithstanding the enormous draw of Farinelli for the Nobility company, and notwithstanding the high quality of the music of its principal composers (Porpora, Hasse, undervalued today) and the stupendous quality of Handel's music (also undervalued); rather, the people with the money to afford the (by our standards) enormous ticket prices had simply lost interest.One commentator here is skeptical about many "period" details.
I know I'm being sort of anal by mentioning this, but this movie, as beautiful and enchanting as it is, has many inaccuracies.Farinelli, in addition to his handsome features and heavenly voice, was also a very humble person and hardly displayed the raucous behavior of a "rock star" as depicted in the film.Second, the singer was known as disinterested in sex, thus I have no idea why the sex scenes in the film were included.
True, there WERE castrati who did engage in pleasures of the flesh, but Farinelli was NOT one of them, or at least there are no historical records suggesting so.All that aside, this movie was a lavishly done production and a must-see!.
Luscious scenery, beautiful costumes, sets, extravagant, but historically accurate stagings for the opera scenes, great language and dialogue - but why make a film about an all but forgotten singer from almost three centuries ago?
Nothing in the film seemed to give a clue as to why anyone would go to all the bother of reconstructing a marvelous voice so painstakingly, and choose one of the great performers of our time to oversee the performances of the music.
Viewed in this light the ending of the film and the sequences in London between Farinelli and Benedict finally begin to have a poignancy and a sadness that is truly stunningly and sensitively achieved whilst adding to the story line.
period was, until recent times, skirted over by musicologists and music history teachers.The result of this omission has been an unsuspecting awareness of the extent to which male performers dominated all forms of period theater, including opera, oratorio, cantata, ballet, and stage plays.
In fact, were Andre Corbiau's name not credited as director of "Ferinelli," one would swear this was a Russell composer biopic.All Russell trademarks are there: excessive closeups of actors in dramatic distress, swirling activity to cover up script weaknesses, and disjointed highlights instead of sequence continuity.Director-coscriptor Corbiau has Stefano Dionisi as Ferinneli forever falling down and collapsing both on and offstage for no apparent reason, and using the old device of having him hesitate to sing on cue before a full house to superficially create suspense and anxiety.In fact, Corbiau, like Russell, is more intent on affecting than expressing: manipulating the viewer than sincerely sharing.
As a result, one is held a arm's length of emotional participation throughout.While no contemporary production can create a truly authentic period setting, there are questions which arise here: George Frederick Handel, one of the world's most prolific and fine composers, is reduced to that of a mere rival theatrical impressario; and Farinelli is forever acting oddly--claiming vocal loss, serious indisposition, and tripping out on opium.
Indeed, at times this seems more like a baroque version of sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'roll.On the brighter side, the staging of the operatic scenes are wonderfully on-target, having been obviously well-researched and meticulously designed.
Likewise, the baroque pit orchestra and period opera house decor is strikingly detailed.What a pity "Farinelli" fails in its main opportunity: to convey a simple, heart-felt story of one of history's most celebrated singers..
Moreover, the film rises admirably to the daunting technical and artistic task of reproducing the tone of a castrato voice, considering that the musical world has not seen or heard a castrato singer for more than a century.'Ah,' you say, 'sounds gorgeous...but what's it about?' Enter Carlo and Riccardo Broschi, Italian brothers who share musical aspirations: Riccardo composes, and Carlo sings what he writes.
In time, Carlo becomes the renowned Farinelli while Riccardo struggles with his lack of talent/recognition as well as the troublesome fact that Carlo is his meal ticket.The simple story line masks rich potential (think 'Amadeus'), but 'Farinelli' is hampered by shallow character development and its inexplicable tendency to substitute all-too-frequent sex scenes for emotional power.
Something seems strangely amiss with what could have been a fascinating historical glimpse into the world of the castrati (castrated male opera singers) in 18th-century Europe.
This 1994 Belgian film is an opulent production full of stunning costumes and set decorations, but director Gerard Corbiau is far more focused on the co-dependency between two real-life brothers, Carlo Broschi, the swoon-worthy castrato known to the world as Farinelli, and his marginally talented composer brother Riccardo.
Although there are glimpses of the castration that occurred when Carlo was ten, the narrative deals very little with the psychological anguish of this act, instead showing extravagantly vainglorious scenes of Farinelli's impact on audiences at the time.
It's as if the story structure of the Baroque operas written at that time took over the sensibility of the screenplay and trivialized the human complexities into exaggerated melodrama.Despite a valiant effort by Stefano Dionisi in the title role, Farinelli is portrayed as a moody, self-centered egotist rather than a misunderstood artist.
This sequence climaxes with the film's musical highlight, a trio of wonderful, truly classic arias from Handel's "Rinaldo".Unfortunately, the remaining musical performances are not nearly as absorbing and rather repetitive.
The film again flails toward the end when we are given a rather silly scene involving a solar eclipse and gratuitous nudity with a ménage a trois among Farinelli, Riccardo and Alexandra, the woman who is - quite literally - between them.
The sets and costumes are magnificent and give a 21st century viewer a glimpse of what life must have been like for the fortunate wealthy in the days of the baroque composers, but the story is confusing and there was far too much gratuitous sex.
It was as if the filmmakers did not think that the beautiful music and sumptuous settings could carry the film.
The characters simply seemed to be a device to move the story along to the bizarre and unnecessary sex scenes.My biggest problem was with the poor lip synching, which was so obvious that it distracted and spoiled the flow of the film.
I felt that the film would have been more convincing if Farinelli had been played by a soprano doing her own singing, and had concentrated more on the relationship with the brother who was riding on Farinelli's coat tails.
But, one is waiting through the whole film for the continuation of the early scene where Carlo (Farinelli) does not try to prevent the soldiers from taking Ricardo away by force.
But the songs that we hear are beautiful and when one knows the amount of work that has been put into the reconstruction of Farinelli's unique voice (covering one octave more than any singer alive today) one should probably not complain..
During the end of the movie we find that it is Riccardo that turned his little brother in because of his ability to sing and thus help his poor familiy.
Even if the singing looked a little fake at times,  and there was a bit too much sex than was really necessary,  but a great film, with beautiful music.
I thought more emphasis would have been put upon the anguish and degradation Farinelli might have felt,  and more stress on the love/hate relationship the public had with the castrati,  but definitely a film worth seeing..
Though unable to comment on Ferinelli's historical accuracy in this film, I was intrigued by the beautiful singing voice.
This film is a must see for anyone in love with opera, and the best music ever to first entertain the human ear..
Based on the true story of Carlo Broschi, Farinelli is an opera singer from Europe, hailed for the beauty of his voice and his fine musicianship.
Unfortunately for the people who love opera music, this film is a real disappointment.
If you like operas and, Italian and French actors, this movie is worth seeing.
Stefano Dionisi plays Carlo Broschi, AKA as Farinelli and his brother Riccardo Broschi (Enrico Lo Verso).
The time of our story is set during the Baroque heyday of Frideric Handel (Jeroen Krabbe) who's great Classical music became the epitome of royalty and high society alike.
Still, for Opera lovers or for those who enjoy good operatic theater, this movie delivers a cornucopia of both, with great period costumes and superior acting.
Farinelli is the artistic name of Carlo Broschi, a young singer in Handel's time.
During his life he comes to be a very famous opera singer, managed by his mediocre brother Riccardo.Although this is the story of a real person, it relies very little on facts.
Just a few notes: the ambiguous relationship between the Broschi brothers, the stormy one with rival composer Handel, and Farinelli's own amorous escapades and over-the-top "rockstar" attitude are totally spurious.
But I don't think this makes the film bad, because it is not intended to be a true story.It is somewhat hard to believe that this used to be a real practice...
This film is a very correct biography of Carlo Broschi, the most famous castrato-countertenor of the 18th century, and of all times.
The writers of the story, Renée and Gérard Corbiau, use historical figures to make this clear, much the same way the author of Amadeus did: In reality, Antonio Salieri did NOT kill nor try to nor thought he did kill Mozart; he wasn't jealous of him at all, nor did he despise his personality or thought he didn't deserve the great talent he had received from God. In fact, Salieri, much like everybody else in Europe, was quite besotted about Wolfgang.
Big brother Ricardo comes across, in this film, as a user, who profits from his exploited little brother both romantically, financially and musically, by first having him study music, having him castrated, writing mediocre music for him merely meant to demonstrate his extraordinary voice, much like a trained monkey.
Ricardo, in this film, represents the popular music industry, which still exists today and is much the same: more interested in money and other gain than in beauty, art and perfection.
This Ricardo has nothing in common with the real Ricardo Broschi, who took great care of his little brother after the untimely demise of their parents, was a mother and a father to him, hesitated painfully to give his permission for the castration (which was never performed unless at the distinct and repeated plead of the young singer himself), and finally wrote beautiful music.
The Heandel in "Farinelli", although formidably interpreted by Jeroen Krabbé, couldn't be further away from the real Heandel, who loved and respected his interpretors, who (like everybody else) was in awe before the dazzling talent of Carlo Broschi.
Farinelli most probably would have become a great opera singer even without having been castrated: he would have been a tenor, maybe, or a countertenor, even a baritone, who will know?
This movie has something of a kinship with "Amadeus," portraying as it does the important cultural significance of music in a very different time and place - far more significant than music is today - but it's a much darker movie than "Amadeus" (which itself has some dark undertones.) The movie gives a glimpse into the life of Carlo Roschi (better known as Farinelli) - one of the great opera singers of the 18th century.
Farinelli (played by Stefano Dionisi) was a castrato - castrated as a young boy in order to preserve his brilliant soprano voice.
Admittedly, it's a bit off putting to see a male portrayed as singing soprano (I say portrayed, because I assume Dionisi was lip-synching, since we don't have castratos today.) But while Farinelli's singing was the centerpiece of the movie, what's really being portrayed here (and, from what I've been able to glean, not entirely accurately, although I'm no expert on 18th century opera singers!) are the complex relationships in Farinelli's life - especially his relationship with his brother Riccardo (Enrico Lo Verso.) Carlo was the brilliant singer; Riccardo seems to have been a rather average composer - but, trying to keep a promise made to their father, they work as a team.
There's also an interesting exploration of Farinelli's relationship with the great composer Handel (Jeroen Krabbe), which revolves around their work for rival opera houses in London.
Many of the musical performances here are breathtaking, particularly Handel's "Lascio che Io Piangia." The castrato tone is achieved through the melding of a coloratura and a counter-tenor voice.
The film is based on the true life story of the most famous singer in early eighteenth century Europe.
Farinelli may not to me be perfect, the sex scenes do get too much and I didn't find the lip synching to be anywhere near convincing as you can tell that the singing was not coming out of the actor.
I personally did find the drama engrossing, true it isn't faithful from a historical standpoint, then again I can't think of any biopic of a musician or composer that didn't take some kind of liberty with the truth, but Farinelli is an emotionally-charged film and there was plenty of that.
We can hear (albeit scratchy remasters) of Carouso, but we can only imagine what Farinelli must have sounded like.The drama around his life is beautifully depicted in this movie.
Of course the notion of the two-brother pact for everything, including conquests, is red top material in a broadsheet movie.Basically, we were transfixed for best part for two hours and commend this movie to anyone who likes drama, history and/or music in their movies..
I've been listening to recordings of Mozart's "Queen of the Night" aria recorded by women and boys nowadays and frustrated that everyone who sings it sounds strained and harsh -- wondering what Farinelli, the greatest singer in opera history, would have sounded like singing it.Unfortunately, I don't think the voice or the body in this movie were accurate.A castrato singer would have the lightness of a boy's voice.
He would have an angelic face, with childlike eyes -- more like the boy actor used for Farinelli before castration.
It's as if the people who did the movie just were clueless.At the high point of the castrati, they were castrating 4,000 boys a year in Italy, supposedly.
Presumably they were drawn to all that barbarism because the voices were really extraordinary, not merely high but of a quality to be drug-like in their beauty.I hope someone will try again -- and do better on the casting and synthesized singing this time.
He visited London in 1734, arriving in time to lend his powerful support to the faction which, in opposition to Handel, had set up a rival opera with Porpora as composer and Senesino as principal singer.
Not even Farinelli's aid could make the undertaking successful.His first appearance at the Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre was in Artaserse, much of the music of which was by his brother, Riccardo Broschi.
The foreign film, mixed Italian and French, retells the story of the famous and greatest castrato singer Carlo Broschi.
This is a movie for an adult who is interested in the period, in the life of the castrati and in opera at this time.
We don't learn until later in the film that it was Riccardo and not Carlos' brother that conducted the castration.
Farinelli does not seem to think highly of his brother's operas, which are written exclusively for his voice.
Although it is true Riccardo Broschi did compose operas for his brother Farinelli, there is no real evidence they "shared" the women they bedded.
All the scenes of opera and Farinelli singing in his majestic costumes in this movie are stunningly beautiful.
The sets are lovely and the singing, for those who like this kind of music, is great but ultimately the story failed to engage me on anything but a superficial level.
Farinelli is an interesting film, definitely worth seeing.
However, the film romanticized Farinelli like a rock star or something.
Opera was the most popular and extravagant genre of music at this time, and castrati were often cast as the lead male role.
Farinelli was like most, I'm pretty sure (don't quote me on that).Now, the film is a bit different from all this.
First off, Farinelli never performed any of Handel's operas.
The conflict between Carlo's dreams and Riccardo's stories hints at the horrible secret between the brothers that is ultimately revealed near the end of the film.
It centers on the life and career of the 18th-century Italian opera singer Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, considered the greatest castrato singer of all time; as well as the relation with his brother, composer Riccardo Broschi.
For example, the ambiguous relationship between the Broschi brothers, the stormy one with rival composer Handel, and Farinelli's own amorous escapades and over-the-top rock star attitude are totally spurious.