The core element of "The Magic Flute," Mozart's Masonic-inflected opera, passes over the head of most members of any audience and rendering it in Swedish would make it stranger except for Ingmar Bergman's undoubted cinematic genius and Mozart's astounding music. Who knew that there were so many beautiful Swedish opera stars? All of the major roles are taken by accomplished singers and Hakan Hagegard and Elizabeth Erikson may be the cutest Papageno and Papagena ever.
Preposterous stories are more usual than not in opera. "The Magic Flute" might be the prototype. But the music is sublime and the astounding "vengeance" aria by the Queen of the Night (Birgit Nordin) is possibly the most difficult piece ever written for a soprano. Bergman makes the plot more accessible than it usually is. And he allows the marvelous but lengthy overture to speak for itself by focusing the camera on closeups of members of the audience (including Bergman himself, Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullman). And again and again on a beautiful pre-teen girl, enraptured by the music.
I haven't seen many filmed versions of "The Magic Flute," which is usually sung in German and occasionally in English. But, given the obscure nature of the plot, it works as well in Swedish (with English subtitles) as in any other language. This is the version to see.
3 out of 3 found this helpful