THE MAGIC FLUTE
UK, 2006, 135 minutes, Colour.
Joseph Kaiser, Amy Carson, Rene Pape, Lyubov Petrova, Benjamin Jay Davis, Silvia Moi.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh.
The Magic Flute is one of Mozart’s most popular operas. It was written for popular production and audience. A lot of significance has been read into The Magic Flute, especially sinister Masonic connections (although critics say that in many countries in Europe at the time, the Masonic brotherhood was not as sinister as was later made out).
However, these aspects are not to the fore in this lively and attractive version of Mozart. Already, in 1976, Ingmar Bergman had made a film version of The Magic Flute. This time, Kenneth Branagh brings his awareness of theatre and the staging of musicals on screen to presenting The Magic Flute. He has also decided to use an English language libretto – adapted by writer and actor, Stephen Fry. The text of The Magic Flute sounds particularly well in English.
The setting is World War One and the film opens with a long shot (compiled by clever editing) as the camera sweeps over the battlefields of World War One and life in the trenches. This setting of the trenches is important for the central character of Tamino, the hero and Papageno (who keeps the canaries to detect the presence of gas in the trenches and has an American accent). However, the film makes the transition from the trenches to the magic kingdom which is ruled over by Sarastro. The Queen of the Night asks Tamino then to rescue her daughter Pamina from Sarastro. However, things are not what they seem, villains are not necessarily villains and the Queen of the Night is not necessarily a queen on the side of light.
For film buffs, the staging of the opera, the presentation of the singers and their songs, the performances illustrate the talent of Kenneth Branagh. He had already brought to the screen versions of Shakespeare, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost (as a 1930s musical incorporating songs from Cole Porter, the Gershwins and others). At the same time he directed a version of As You Like It.
The film is exhilarating in its visuals, performances, singing, Mozart’s music – a satisfying adaptation of Mozart for the cinema screen.
1. The long appeal of The Magic Flute? Mozart’s music? The libretto? The use of imagination? The conflict between good and evil? Heroism? The comic touches? A popular opera?
2. Opera to screen: the adaptation of the libretto, the use of the score? Writing a cinematic screenplay? Deciding on the point of view for the audience on characters and incident? Editing and pace? Matching image to music? Special effects? How well handled here?
3. The transition from the time of Mozart to 1916? The 18th century sensibilities and mentality to the 20th century? War and struggle? World War One? The battles? The transition to the fantasy battles – as symbol of what was happening in the world?
4. Kenneth Branagh’s career as director, imagination, adapting Shakespeare? The skill of Stephen Fry in the contemporary English version of the libretto?
5. The opening, the long introduction, the battlefields of World War One, the trenches, activity? The seamless presentation of the opening? Life in the trenches? The battles? The transition to the kingdom of Sarastro? The castle? The experience of the Queen of the Night?
6. Tamino, as a soldier in war, active, with his fellow soldiers? With Papageno? His vision of Pamina? The flashbacks and the elegance of the black and white ballroom scenes? The encounter with the three women in their various guises? With the Queen of the Night? Her condemnation of Sarastro, the mission to rescue Pamina? The reality of Sarastro, the castle, Pamina? The change in attitude of Tamino? The vow of silence – and Papageno’s breaking it? The various tests, endurance, shared with Pamina? The final rescue and the heroism?
7. Pamina, her relationship with her mother, with Sarastro? Her seeming to be in prison, Tamino and his wanting to set her free, her falling in love, the flashbacks, the true nature of Sarastro, the tests and her endurance?
8. The Queen of the Night, the three women who acted in chorus, as commentary, as seductive, as scheming? The choice of Tamino? The background of the mission, the Queen of the Night and her evil, reappearance, frustration and defeat?
9. Sarastro, initially presented as a tyrant, his court, his character? The revelation of the truth, meeting Tamino, genial, with Papageno, imposing the vow, the tests, the final confrontation of the Queen of the Night?
10. Papageno, American, comic, his patter, his companionship of Tamino? His dreams of Papagena? His talking, breaking the vow, finally the vision of Papagena and the happy ending?
11. The role of the flute, magic, symbol, held aloft at the end?
12. A 21st century experience of opera, opera in cinema – and a transferral of the 18th century to the 21st century?
