Carmen (1983)

 Carmen (1983)

Directed by Carlos Suara
Choreography by Antonio Gades

TCM is featuring Dorothy Dandridge this month. I watched Carmen Jones since I had not seen it before and was curious. Harry Belafante is in it, how bad can it be? Turns out, really bad. First of all, of course the singing is all lip-sync which always looks fake to me, but on top of that the stars have to lip-sync to the voices of other singers even though they are singers themselves. Then there is the setting of the romantic rival being a boxing champ, because that is the height of black men accomplishment, being a gladiator. Of course the whole plot of the Carmen story is horrible since she gets murdered because of jealousy. Anyway, I watched the whole thing and it was as bad as it was.

Then I thought about another old movie I had seen years ago on its release and got the DVD version of that through the county public library system. 
This Spanish flamenco version of Carmen is very good. It is a backstage sort of story of a dance company staging a production of Carmen. Antonio Gades plays the director, choreographer, and star of the production. He is searching for the perfect female dancer to play Carmen, eventually casting Laura Del Sol in the role. They start up a sexual relationship in addition to working together, etc, to the dismal ending to this story. The movie cleverly plays with reality. Is this what is going on in the production of Carmen or in the backstage drama?  

On the way there are a number of really excellent dance and song scenes. Unlike the 1954 Hollywood thing. These people actually sing on film in the lively communal dance song scenes all staged in the rehearsal studios.
Antonio Gades is a stunning performer with beauty of grave and form. Really rather sexy since he is so attractive. His dance performances with Laura Del Sol have an intense sensuality. He is the real star of this really fine movie that holds up exceptionally well 37 years later.
Also featured is Paco de Lucia on guitar and in an acting role as a musician in the company.


https://youtu.be/gBska8EAM8Q