Dutch National Opera

‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ (Cav) and ‘Pagliacci’ (Pag) are often referred to as opera’s Siamese twins, but if you have ever encountered them together, be it on stage, on DVD or on CD, it has always been Cav that has come first. Why? There’s no rule about it, so why should it?

Director Robert Carsen reverses the order in this production for the Dutch National Opera, but it isn’t a mere whim. It is a key part of his vision for this pairing of works because one flows from the other. Carsen’s overreaching theme is taken from Tonio’s prologue that opens ‘Pagliacci’: the boundary between fictional emotions as portrayed on stage and the real emotions of the actors/singers themselves. Who is who, participants in the drama or audience? In an extraordinary coup de theatre at the opening of ‘Pagliacci’ the soberly-dressed patrons in the first three rows of the stalls rise to a disturbance and transform themselves into the chorus. And at the end of ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’, they disperse, revealing a huge mirror in which the audience themselves are reflected as witnesses of the tragedies. Sung in Italian with English subtitles

176m inc Interval

Nattvardsgästerna

A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.

‘Winter Light’ focuses on a small group of parishioners found at the beginning of the film attending Holy Communion. The village pastor (Gunnar Björnstrand) is realising he has become an atheist since his wife's death. His faith is further tested by an offer of marriage from a schoolteacher (Ingrid Thulin) tortured with eczema, and the solace demanded by a man (Max von Sydow) suicidally depressed by the threat of nuclear war. The pastor fails on both counts and Bergman gives us an ambiguous ending back in the church service - what he himself called 'certainty unmasked'. Never a comfortable film, it's finely acted by a familiar Bergman ensemble, and the awesomely cold vistas form a perfect counterpoint to the spiritual freeze.

Sweden 1963 Ingmar Bergman 81m

Werner Herzog’s monumental marvel of a film is the story of an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.

Opera-loving European Brian Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) lives in a small Peruvian city. Better known as Fitzcarraldo, this foreigner is obsessed with building an opera house in his town and decides that to make his dream a reality he needs to make a killing in the rubber business. To become a successful rubber baron, Fitzcarraldo hatches an elaborate plan that calls for a particularly impressive feat - bringing a massive boat over a mountain with the help of a band of natives. This is a truly remarkable film with a production as audacious as the feat it's depicting, ‘Fitzcarraldo’ is nothing short of an awe-inspiring spectacle. We also screen the documentary on the troubled making of this film ‘Burden of Dreams’, which really lays bare the love-hate relationship between Herzog and Kinski. (Subtitles)

West Germany/Peru 1982 Werner Herzog 158m

Director James Mangold (‘Walk the Line’, ‘Ford v Ferrari’) takes on the enigmatic life of Bob Dylan in a fresh, unconventional biopic. Starring Timothée Chalamet as the iconic folk singer, the film explores Dylan’s transformative journey through fame, identity and reinvention during the 1960s.

Following Dylan’s rise from a Greenwich Village poet to a global music icon, we see the chaos, ambition and uncertainty of a young artist challenging himself and his audience. Chalamet embodies Dylan’s charisma and intensity, while scenes with real-life performances and legendary figures - from Joan Baez to Johnny Cash - anchor the story in music history. Mangold’s direction blends period detail with a restless energy, making this an intimate, raw look at an artist in constant evolution.

USA 2024 James Mangold 141m