Carmen is a 1983 film from Spain by Carlos Saura.
A Spanish dance troupe is putting on a show of George Bizet's opera, Carmen. Antonio, choreographer and leader of the troupe, is looking for an actress/dancer to play the lead role of Carmen. Cristina, the lead female dancer in the troupe, wants the part, but Antonio doesn't think she's right for it. This is mostly because she's pushing 40 and he wants someone younger.
Enter a gorgeous, fiery young dancer who happens to be named Carmen. Antonio sees her at an open audition and gives her the part. Cristina takes a strong dislike to the younger woman, whom she sees as a rival. Antonio, who is playing Opera Carmen's lover Don Jose in the show, is soon enchanted with Dancer Carmen, the spirited beauty. Soon they are having a tempestuous love affair...and then they are acting out the plot of the opera Carmen in their own lives.
Tropes:
- As Himself: Lead actor Antonio Gades, Cristina Hoyos, and the members of Gades's real life Spanish National Ballet are all basically playing themselves, all except Laura del Sol who starred as Carmen.
- Cat Fight: The knife fight from the Carmen opera is perform by the actors in rehearsal, with (like most of the film) a heavy dose of double meaning as Cristina and Dancer Carmen are rivals.
- Dance Battler: Antonio's dancing fight with Carmen's husband, which is more flamenco than pugilistic, until suddenly Antonio knocks the other man down to the floor and wins the fight.
- Dance of Romance: In another plot element that has double resonance, Antonio and Carmen dance a passionate dance to the accompaniment of the famous "Habanera
" aria from the opera. After, they become lovers. - The Danza: In-Universe, Antonio hires a gorgeous young dancer named Carmen to star in his production of Carmen. This is of course symbolic as "real" Carmen is playing the same part in "real life" as she is in the Carmen ballet.
- Downer Ending: Just like in the opera, Carmen is killed by her jealous lover in the end. The very last shot of the movie has the camera pulling back from the murder to reveal that no one else is paying attention, that Antonio really did kill her and they weren't just rehearsing a show.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Antonio states plainly that he doesn't want to share Carmen with anyone. Eventually, he kills her.
- Hands-On Approach: An early scene where Antonio walks Carmen through what he wants her to do in a dance scene involves a lot of touching and close dancing that is clearly a mating ritual. Carmen's agent mutters "Good-looking couple."
- If I Can't Have You…: The movie ends with Antonio murdering Carmen right there in the dance studio, after she says she doesn't love him anymore.
- Imagine Spot: In a scene where Antonio is alone and thinking about both the show and his love life, Carmen suddenly appears, dressed in a Carmen costume, with an ornate dress and a fancy lace fan.
- The Ken Burns Effect: In the opening credits the camera pans over old-timey illustrations of Carmen that look like they're from a 19th-century stage production.
- Leg Focus: In the scene where Carmen comes over to Antonio's house for sex, they are drinking wine at his dinner table. A camera shot starts with Carmen's foot clad in a high-heeled shoe, then pans slowly up her lovely calf to her knee and skirt.
- Love Triangle: It turns out that Dancer Carmen has a husband, a criminal who is finishing a stint in jail for drug charges. Antonio is not happy at all to find this out.
- Mad Artist: Antonio becomes obsessed with the young woman dancing the lead in his new production, Carmen. Her name? Carmen. Let's just say that
Life Imitates Art. - The Musical Musical: A film about a production of Carmen using, unsurprisingly, music from Carmen.
- Show Within a Show: A movie called Carmen about a Spanish ballet troupe that is staging an adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen. This is thematically appropriate as the characters in the movie are also going through the story of Carmen in "real life". The troupe rehearses the scene where Opera Carmen gets in a knife fight; Cristina plays the character who gets in the fight with Opera Carmen, and the Show Within a Show fight underlines the out-of-show tension between Cristina and Dancer Carmen.
- Toros y Flamenco: The film is a Spanish adaptation of a French opera that was set in Spain. It is flamenco all the way, with guitar, castanets, and flamenco dancing.
- Wedding Ring Removal: In a scene towards the end that blurs fantasy and reality but eventually is shown to be a rehearsal for the show, Carmen flings her wedding ring to the ground after Antonio/Juan defeats her lover in a fight.
