Better Late Then Never

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I have always liked opera, Bel Canto and Donizetti. L'Elisir D'Amore is a very funny and touching opera with sublime music, Una Furtiva Lagrima always leaves a lump in my throat. I saw the production with Villazon and Netrebko and the production with Alagna and Gheorghiu, and as much as I did enjoy those productions, this delicious treat is my favourite production of Donizetti's opera.The sets are very effective, simple yet very elegant, and I also loved the costumes. An Amazon review likened the costumes to like a spring garden, I find that a very fitting and spot-on description. The camera work is very good and brings out the beauty and colour of the production more, the picture quality is of excellent clarity and the sound is better than you would expect.As for the pacing, of the three productions I've seen, this one is the most energetic. The orchestra play beautifully with just the right style to captivate, and James Levine's conducting sparkles.L'Elisir D'Amore's(1992) performances are great. As much as I do like Luciano Pavarotti, apart from Rodolfo(La Boheme), Duke of Mantua(Rigoletto) and Riccardo(Un Ballo in Maschera), all three roles show off his personality, I have not always been thrilled by his acting. I however find him very charming here, and he sings as effortlessly as ever. Una Furtiva Lagrima is truly beautiful and if I admitted I cried "a furtive tear", would that make me strange?Kathaleen Battle is a wonderful Adina, she is suitably youthful and her singing and stage presence is full of sparkle and charm. Juan Pons is a great Belcore as well. Coming very close to stealing the show is Enzo Dara, his Dulcamara is hilarious, complete with a strong voice, great vocal expression and spot-on comic timing.Overall, a delicious production. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

Pavarotti in the repertoire he does and loves best. The Rolls-Royce of operatic singing is a wonder to behold... unlike his stage presence. However, despite his restricted mobility he's a charming and gregarious figure. I urge anyone interested in investigating this production further to do so immediately on account of his catching a book thrown across the stage (to an ovation), and a set piece of dancing around the bottle (the 'elixir') which is funnier than any comic event in music theatre thus recorded.Complicit in this good humoured approach to entertainment is Kathleen Battle (a star of similar proportion in terms of celebrity and inverse proportion in terms of width). Their charm onstage is the true pairing of the evening and they are more than capable of coming together vocally.For all it's ease though, this production is built to serve the stars and really doesn't serve the opera, one of Donizetti's delights. 4/10

Donizetti's elixir of love does not work like most love potions. Usually, the lover administers the potion to the object of his affection in order to make her love him. In this opera, it is Nemorino who swallows the potion to make himself attractive to Adina. He does not know that he has been tricked by Dulcamara who runs the medicine show and the potion is just an ordinary bottle of wine. Here in Birmingham, many men think think that they become irresistible to women after swallowing two pints of Ansell's bitter.In the UK, we are currently being treated to a television season of these operas from the Met, after years of listening to them on the radio on a Saturday night. Of course, some people prefer opera on the radio. They claim that the pictures are better. This film may be a case in point. The garish costumes and design are straight out of a Disney cartoon. At any moment I expected Uncle Remus to stride onto the stage singing Zip-a-de Doo-Dah. Certainly Luciano Pavarotti, in a most unfortunate costume and wig, does a pretty good impersonation of Br'er Bear. This was probably the point at which many of the world's opera houses decided that Luciano, because of his considerable bulk, was no longer feasible as a juvenile lead. Met audiences had no such reservations and continued to dote on him until well past the millennium.The petite Kathleen Battle looks lovely but she and Pavarotti make a very odd couple. Battle shows the flighty side of Adina's character but does not suggest any depth. The pivotal moment in this opera is when Nemorino notices a telltale tear (una furtiva lagrima) in Adina's eye and realises that she loves him. Well this Adina sheds no tears; worse still, when Pavaratti waddles on stage carrying a suitcase to sing "Una furtiva lagrima" the audience laughs.Let me stress that I am discussing this work as a film. Battle's lyric coloratura is small but perfect; Pavarotti, in this performance, is still at the height of his vocal powers. They are ably supported by Enzo Dara as Dulcamara and Juan Pons as Belcore. If I were listening on the radio I would have thought that it was perfect.The film's director, Brian Large could not do much to rescue this production. Four years later, he directed what is probably the definitive version of this opera with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna smouldering in the leading roles.

This is the taped live performance from the Metropolitan opera,capturing all the fun and excitement of a live show. The production itself is tops,as is the music of conductor James Levine and the performances of Pavarotti,Battle,Dara and Pons,along with the entire cast.This is the opera house at its most entertaining and i think that even people who generally dont like opera,they will like this.It is full of fun and humour,and the cast clearly has a good time with the audience. Strangely, it is still not available on DVD!