The Magic Flute

chanandre

[Cinémathèque PT #648: 35 mm] (2008) was it weird that i kept counting the sopranos' cavities and checking their poor teeth?

Richmond Hill

A decent expansion of opera on screen with the now familiar conceit of realising the stage bound as just that in a partially opened-out narrative (oddly reminiscent of Olivier's Henry V in that respect). The musicality is lively, the playing often cutesy and the tone surprisingly light for this director eschewing much of the Masonic undertone of the original.

ramosbarajas

It is much lighter than you would expect from Bergman, but in a way this is as much an homage to Mozart and the theater as Fanny and Alexander was an homage to his childhood. And I think both are really similar in tone. The cast jumps off the screen, and it becomes a great party. It was definitely a creative way of approaching an adaptation, and I think it works. It can be a bit dated, but overall a new experience.

Ethan

It might just be because I don't like musicals but this film just doesn't do anything for me. Bergman was very fond of this film but I am not.

Danny Kana

Couldn't stand it. I appreciate bergman and his creativity. But this is the first film I've ever been able to not complete. Ill give it a go again in a few years.

Sean Patrick Stevens

I'm not sure if the cutaways to the little girl in the audience are that effective but the subject matter almost reminds one of a comic version of the SEVENTH SEAL with Wagnerian sets (!)

Adam Whybray

An oddity. Feels like a pet project as when Burton made 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory' or Jackson 'King Kong'. Of course, 'The Magic Flute' is not risible like those two wrong-headed indulgences, but the enthusiasm belongs to Bergman to be glimpsed by the audience. This giddiness however makes it the only truly **cute** Bergman film I've ever seen! It's pretty darling. Švankmajer went further with 'Faust', though.

draftnymph

um blatant misogyny doe - women reduced to prizes, temptresses, petty vindictive villains. sisterhood/females literally epitomized as forces of darkness