I suppose that at 3am on a seemingly-endless night, an insomniac might well find The Music Teacher a valuable soporific. That would seem its main purpose as a movie.
The Music Teacher focuses on a retired opera singer Joachim Dallayrac, appropriately (though stiltedly) played by real-life operatic baritone Jose van Dam, who devotes the rest of his life to the training of two pupils, soprano Sophie Maurier (played by Anne Roussel) and tenor Jean Nilson (Philippe Volter).
In the dim dark past, Dallayrac engaged (if this can be believed) in a singing duel with Prince Scotti, another baritone, played in an exaggeratedly high-camp manner by Patrick Bauchau. Scotti's voice was destroyed in the duel, and 20 years later, Prince Scotti seeks his revenge. He will stage a singing competition, and destroy Dallayrac's star pupil in a similar duel.
It's a pretty daft idea, and the film creaks and groans as it lumbers its way through 80 minutes of tortuous non-activity, until we finally arrive at the 'duel'. And when it arrives, the outcome is so predictable, and the voices not strong enough to even hold our interests on a musical level, that one wonders just what was the point of this inane exercise. And where did the name 'Prince Scotti' come from? Unintentionally, the film's makers are traducing one of the great baritones of the early 20th century, Antonio Scotti.
The director, GĂ©rard Corbiau, also wrote the screenplay, which gives him no excuse at all for this effort. The film is set in Europe just before the Great War, and the cinematography and the designs are ravishing. But there should be more to a film than pretty camerawork. This movie might appeal to a few pretentious 'art-lovers' who really know nothing about either filmmaking or music. If you think you fall into this category, by all means give it a try.
This is an excellent anamorphic widescreen transfer which focuses attention on the only redeeming feature of this movie - its luscious cinematography and settings.
Colours are deep and vibrant, with no undue color saturation but with great rendering of both indoor and outdoor scenes.
The quality of this French DD 5.1 soundtrack matches the presentation of the video. The music, such as it is, is presented with full fidelity, with its lashings of Mozart, Puccini and Verdi - though poor Mahler would be in despair to hear his work being used to such crass effect.
