Aria (1987)

Aria (1987). Aria: Directed by Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, Bill Bryden, Jean-Luc Godard, Derek Jarman, Franc Roddam, Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Charles Sturridge, Julien Temple. With Theresa Russell, Stephanie Lane, Roy Hyatt, Sevilla Delofski. 10 short films by 10 different directors, set to arias by different composers.

“Generally when I see a videotape that has a come-on phrase like u0026quot;A superbly sensual experience,u0026quot; I take a wild guess that it will be jam-packed with images of naked women. So, *Aria* is kind of a no-brainer. This movie is obviously not going to appeal to afficianados of classical music–the u0026quot;videosu0026quot; are generally a little too sophomoric or melodramatic; so the target audience is guys who want to see plenty of naked women. I would recommend this film to anyone who has watched the Annenberg/CPB project u0026quot;French in Actionu0026quot; series, because the ravishingly beautiful girl who plays Mireille doffs all her clothing in a sublimely ridiculous sequence involving bodybuilders. One or two of the pieces really do work on an artistic level. The u0026quot;Liebestodu0026quot; piece is mournful, tragic, and very affecting; u0026quot;La Virgine degli Angeliu0026quot; is chillingly beautiful; and u0026quot;Depuis la Jouru0026quot; is downright heartbreaking. But the rest run the gamut from silly (Robert Altmanu0026#39;s time-wasting sequence; the Buck Henry bit) to completely awful (u0026quot;Die Tote Stadtu0026quot; features the most terrible job of lip-synching ever–but hey, thereu0026#39;s a naked girl!; the weightlifting sequence hardly plays any music and makes absolutely no sense–but hey, there are *two* naked girls!). The biggest travesty is the inclusion of u0026quot;Nessun Dorma,u0026quot; possibly the most beautiful piece of music ever composed, in a video that looks like Mister Rogersu0026#39; nightmares. Although it has its moments, *Aria* is basically a chance for these directors to show a lot of female flesh and justify it as art.”