Sébastien Laudenbach’s take on the world’s most popular opera, Viva Carmen, remains true to the director’s favorite angle: a child’s view of the world. Following Salvador and his spirited friend Belén in their quest to prevent Carmen’s demise, Laudenbach imbues his film with the same energy that resonated throughout the award-winning Chicken for Linda!, which he co-directed alongside Chiara Malta. Fast movements and witty dialogue are at the core of the film, with Georges Bizet’s original music blending with the rhythms crafted by the duo Amine Bouhafa/Isabelle Laudenbach.
A thrilling, feminist reinvention of Carmen for children, families, and opera buffs alike, Viva Carmen doesn’t shy away from the brutality and darkness of its original material. Jealousy, violence, and death are part of the film as they are part of life, something that was quite important for Laudenbach. “That’s what the film tries to convey,” he told Animation Journal ahead of Annecy, “how people try to build something new, a new society. The new generation is not the same as the previous one, and perhaps they will ensure that the world can move toward a better future.”
Flowing against the tides of mainstream family-friendly films and without shying from difficult topics, Viva Carmen delivers a true cinematic experience, one reminiscent of the grand Disney tragedies of old.
A story perfectly fit for the trio of artists who helped Laudenbach and screenwriter Santiago Otheguy bring their Carmen to the screen: Cyril Pedrosa, Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec and Élodie Remy. Pedrosa, Gobbé-Mévellec and Remy crafted splendid backgrounds, vivid colors and memorable characters. In cinema, the saying is that every frame is a painting. It has never been truer than in this art piece.
Viva Carmen premiered at Cannes as part of the Director’s Fortnight and is part of Annecy’s Official Competition.
