Thanks to her lineage from Bizet to Beyoncé, Carmen is a name associated with seduction. Her new drama, Carmen, tells an original story, not based on the famous opera, but its heroine nevertheless invites her community to earthly delights.
Carmen (Natascha McElhone) is the sister of a priest who lives in rural Malta, a clergyman who denounces parishioners who sing too beautiful songs in church, and whose joyless fate in life leads to his housekeeper. was to act as When her brother died, Carmen lost her home, money and job. However, she lives freely without being bound by the authority of the church.
Carmen steals the keys to the vacant church and begins impersonating the village’s new priest. She doesn’t say Mass, but happily advises her long-suffering wife on how to remove herself from her husband from the privacy of her confessional booth. Donations explode and Carmen repurposes her funds generously. She buys her own makeover and sends her neighbors to Rome to pursue her dreams. The only danger to her good deeds is that her devout followers may expose Carmen’s deception and re-impose her rules that weren’t working before she took over.
The film has an allegorical quality, with a little looser plot detail. It makes no sense that in such a small village Carmen’s plans would go largely unnoticed. But in a film whose central theme is separation from orthodoxy, writer-director Valery Buhajar makes the wise decision to direct her film towards the fun rather than the logical. The Maltese countryside glistens in the sunshine, and McElhone enjoys a charming and slightly crazy performance as her leader in irreverent spirituality.
carmen
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes.Available for rent or purchase at the theater apple tv, google play and other streaming platforms and pay-TV operators.