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 "Audiences are advised to sit near the back and squint to avoid noticing some truly egregious lip-non-synching, but otherwise the production is suitably elegant."
-- Gregory Weinkauf, NEW TIMES
"A fine production with splendid singing by Angela Gheorghiu, Ruggero Raimondi, and Roberto Alagna."
-- David Sterritt, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
"This filmed Tosca -- not the first, by the way -- is a pretty good job, if it's filmed Tosca that you want. I'll stay with the stage versions, however, which bite cleaner, and deeper."
-- Alan Rich, L.A. WEEKLY
"I'd rather watch a rerun of The Powerpuff Girls"
-- Jon Popick, PLANET SICK-BOY
"Jacquot's strategy allows his cast the benefit of being able to give full performances ... while demonstrating vividly that the beauty and power of the opera reside primarily in the music itself."
-- Maitland McDonagh, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"Jacquot has filmed the opera exactly as the libretto directs, ideally capturing the opera's drama and lyricism."
-- Rachel Kaplan, CULTUREVULTURE.NET
 "Though the opera itself takes place mostly indoors, Jacquot seems unsure of how to evoke any sort of naturalism on the set."
-- Ed Gonzalez, SLANT MAGAZINE
"Opera on film is never satisfactory. The art demands live viewing. The innate theatrics that provide its thrills and extreme emotions lose their luster when flattened onscreen."
-- Bridget Byrne, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
"With three excellent principal singers, a youthful and good-looking diva and tenor and richly handsome locations, it's enough to make you wish Jacquot had left well enough alone and just filmed the opera without all these distortions of perspective."
-- Melinda Bargreen, SEATTLE TIMES
"The performance is curiously cold, surprisingly artificial and removed from the very passion embedded deeply within the score and libretto."
-- SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
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"Definitely not a movie for everyone, but should please fans of the classic opera."
-- Phil Villarreal, ARIZONA DAILY STAR
"The director sees the strengths of Alagna and Gheorghiu and plays them for every cinematic moment."
-- Georgia Rowe, CONTRA COSTA TIMES
"A rare example of first-rate filmed opera."
-- Peter Rainer, NEW YORK MAGAZINE
"Every conceivable mistake a director could make in filming opera has been perpetrated here."
-- David Noh, FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
"If the material is slight and admittedly manipulative, Jacquot preserves Tosca's intoxicating ardor through his use of the camera."
-- Jeremiah Kipp, FILMCRITIC.COM
"If you can read the subtitles (the opera is sung in Italian) and you like 'Masterpiece Theatre' type costumes, you'll enjoy this movie."
-- T. Hashimoto, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
"Passion, lip-synching, tragedy, and lots of really really high notes. For me, this opera isn't a favorite, so it's a long time before the fat lady sings."
-- Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, THEMOVIECHICKS.COM
"As it stands it's an opera movie for the buffs."
-- Laura Bushell, BBCI FILMS
"Jacquot's Tosca is a treat."
-- Marta Barber, MIAMI HERALD
-- Click to read the article.
-- Gregory Avery, NITRATE ONLINE
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FRESH 69%
Avg. Rating: 7.1/10 |
"Two hours fly by -- opera's a pleasure when you don't have to endure intermissions -- and even a novice to the form comes away exhilarated."
-- Elizabeth Zimmer, VILLAGE VOICE
"You would be better off investing in the worthy EMI recording that serves as the soundtrack, or the home video of the 1992 Malfitano-Domingo production."
-- John von Rhein, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Jacquot's rendering of Puccini's tale of devotion and double-cross is more than just a filmed opera. In his first stab at the form, Jacquot takes a slightly anarchic approach that works only sporadically."
-- Megan Turner, NEW YORK POST
"Benoit Jacquot serves up Puccini's warhorse with a minimum of cinematic hoo-ha and a maximum of respect."
-- Jan Stuart, NEWSDAY
"For the most part, it works beautifully as a movie without sacrificing the integrity of the opera."
-- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES
"Director Benoit Jacquot, making his first opera-to-film translation with Tosca, conveys the heaving passion of Puccini's famous love-jealousy- murder-suicide fandango with great cinematic innovation."
-- Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"The director has injected self-consciousness into the proceedings at every turn. The results are far more alienating than involving."
-- Frank Scheck, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"Angela Gheorghiu as famous prima donna Floria Tosca, Roberto Alagna as her lover Mario Cavaradossi, and Ruggero as the villainous, lecherous police chief Scarpia, all sing beautifully and act adequately."
-- Andrew Sarris, NEW YORK OBSERVER
"For movie lovers as well as opera lovers, Tosca is a real treat."
-- Steven Rosen, DENVER POST
"The film just might turn on many people to opera, in general, an art form at once visceral and spiritual, wonderfully vulgar and sublimely lofty -- and as emotionally grand as life."
-- Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"From the trembling fury of Gheorgiu's Tosca to the penetrating stare of Raimondi's Scarpia, this Tosca blazes with passion. At its best, it's sublime."
-- Robert Denerstein, DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
"Altogether, this is successful as a film, while at the same time being a most touching reconsideration of the familiar masterpiece."
-- Daniel Cariaga, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"It is impossible to imagine wanting to see Jacquot's film more than once, if that."
-- BOSTON GLOBE
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* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "Tosca" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
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