Diva 4K 1981 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Jules, a young mail carrier, is obsessed with opera and in love with an opera diva who, as a matter of principle, does not make recordings of herself singing. Jules secretly records her voice to enjoy it alone, but finds himself drawn into the dangerous games of criminals. In addition, he accidentally witnesses a murder and becomes the owner of another audio cassette.

Review 4K Movie

Jean-Jacques Beineix is traditionally included in the most famous trio of French film directors of the 1980s – “B-K-B” (Beineix-Carax-Besson), which had one of the most significant influences on the development of European cinema during a decade of “ideological and stylistic stagnation.” Although he made his debut film, Monsieur Michel's Dog (1978), relatively late, at the age of 32, chronologically Benes still came to cinema slightly earlier than his two younger colleagues.

His second work, Diva, largely predetermined the direction of the new cinema and outlined a number of its fundamental features, which by the mid-1980s would be accumulated in the films of B-K-B. One after another, within a year, Besson's ‘Subway’, Carax's ‘Bad Blood’, and Benex's ‘37.2 in the Morning’ appeared. From today's perspective, each title seems not only programmatic, but almost symbolic. The young heroes of these films, with bad blood coursing through their veins and elevated temperatures as the norm, live in a special world, the prototype of which is, among other things, the Paris subway.

The explosive, impulsive Diva features a long chase scene, most of which takes place in the subway. Its flawless rhythm and tension that builds from frame to frame have made this film one of the benchmarks of new European cinema. The chases in Besson's Subway can be read as paraphrases of Dive, as can the double chase situation, which forms the basis of the plot of Bad Blood, while the plot of Besson's Nikita (1990) is also based on a double game. The main character of Diva, a young messenger named Jules, constantly finds himself in dangerous situations.

The young man makes pirated recordings of the performances of opera prima donna Cynthia, sincerely admiring the high art. However, he sees nothing wrong with infringing on her copyright. As a result, he has to flee from three entities interested in his illegal business: two record companies and the police. Remaining romantics at heart, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and deprived of family ties, means of subsistence, normal housing, and citizenship, virtually all the characters in B-K-B films are engaged in not entirely legal activities, or are even completely outside the law.

They are constantly being pursued by someone or pursuing someone themselves. The best friends of these last romantics, the forerunners of generations X and Y, these semi-destitute vagabonds, extravagant punks, rebellious fakirs-eccentrics, who have sublimated traditional aspirations for well-being, education, career, family stability, and sex into a restless game with life or complete apathy towards it, are music, roller skates, motorcycles, and, in the most extreme case, a gun.