Opera in Movies: 10 Films with Defining Operatic Moments and Soundtracks

Even if you know nothing about opera, if you like movies, sooner or later you are bound to come across operatic music as part of a soundtrack. The marriage of film and opera has proven a successful artistic partnership from the beginnings of cinema to the present. Music—especially opera—opens up emotional and psychological dimensions that an action occurring more or less in real time cannot offer entirely on its own, since action doesn’t leave much room for reflection while it is happening. When operatic music underlines a situation, a mood, an act, a narrative, you can get “the big picture” (no pun intended) of thoughts, emotions, recollections, connections, premonitions in an instant, and much more so if you are even a bit familiar with the piece of music and what it evokes. Some operatic pieces are used as leitmotifs—recurrent themes associated with a certain character, idea, or situation. Others act as a subtext to the screenplay and enrich the spoken words with what remains unsaid. Here are ten films, some of which have been box office hits, that have used opera to speak louder than words, deepen our emotional connection to the story, underline crucial moments and turning points, and act as an abstract yet determinant character in the story’s development. 

The Fifth Element (1997)

Starring Bruce Willis, Maïwenn, Milla Jovovich. Directed by Luc Besson.

The alien opera singer, Diva Plavalaguna (played by Maïwenn with vocals by soprano Inva Mula) sings the beginning of the Mad Scene from Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lamermoor. In the aria, love and illusion mingle in the altered world of Lucia’s madness, which makes for an apt operatic choice to highlight an alternate universe in outer space. Donizetti’s sublime music enthralls a twenty-third-century audience of humans and aliens on Planet Fhloston where earthling cab-driver (Bruce Willis) and mystical Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) must get something (no spoilers here!) very precious from the Diva herself. On Amazon Prime.

The Godfather III (1990)

Starring Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

The finale of the film—and of the entire Godfather trilogy—is in itself of operatic, melodramatic proportions. Michael Corleone’s scream is muted by Pietro Mascagni’s “Intermezzo” from Cavalleria Rusticana—the quintessential Sicilian vendetta opera. The opera itself plays an important role throughout the movie as Michael’s son, Anthony, makes his debut in it at Teatro Massimo in Palermo while revenge against the Corleone clan is being carried out. On the magnificent music of the Intermezzo, Michael’s memories materialize on the screen in scenes from all three films. On Amazon Prime.

M. Butterfly (1993)

Starring Jeremy Irons. Directed by David Cronenberg.

In the 1960s, French diplomat René Gallimard (Jeremy Irons) becomes enamored of a Chinese opera star from Beijing. This tale of love, deception, and the cultural encounter of East and West is haunted and intensified by the music—and tragedy—of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. The movie is based on the very successful Broadway play of the same name by David Henry Hwang who was inspired by true events, and who also wrote the screenplay. The ending packs a huge surprise. To avoid spoiling it, I haven’t included any links to scenes; keep the effect of the surprise intact and don’t look up anything about the film, just watch it first. On Amazon Prime.

Match Point (2005)

Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson. Directed by Woody Allen.

This psychological thriller that questions the forces of fate and luck is also a musical showcase for the voice of one of the greatest singers of all time, tenor Enrico Caruso, featuring arias and excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi’s operas, especially Macbeth, La traviata, Il trovatore, Rigoletto, and Otello, Georges Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers), and Antônio Carlos Gomes’ Salvator Rosa. The aria “Una furtiva lagrima” (A furtive tear) from Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) is heard repeatedly, including during the opening credits. Young, lucky opera buff and tennis pro Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is torn between passion and ambition. The abundance of opera around his actions acts like a bubble of insulation between his conscience and reality as he will stop at nothing to climb up the ladder of society. In an unusual pairing of story and soundtrack, the climactic criminal act is set to the Act II duet between Iago and Otello, so the spectators are faced with two parallel narratives: while murder is happening in the film, Iago’s evil infiltrates Otello’s mind. On Amazon Prime.

Moonstruck (1987)

Starring Cher, Nicolas Cage. Directed by Norman Jewison.

Cher won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Loretta, an engaged woman who falls in love with her fiancé’s tormented brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage), and opera gives her more than a little nudge to risk it all. As a newcomer to opera, Loretta responds to it profoundly when she joins Ronny for Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera. And who can ever forget Loretta and Ronny surrendering to love, passion, and a magical moon on the soundtrack of the love duet from La bohème? On Amazon Prime.

Philadelphia (1993)

Starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington. Directed by Jonathan Demme.

Lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning role) teams up with Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) in the lawsuit against his law firm for firing him because he is HIV-positive and gay. In one of the most heartbreaking moments in cinema when opera touches the soul where words cannot, Andrew takes Joe through the aria “La mamma morta” from Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, sung by the incomparable Maria Callas. A powerful scene in which the passion for opera of a terminally-ill man leads his skeptical colleague through the musical colors and meanings of an aria about loss, death, and the redemptive power of love. Joe’s transformation is astonishing: from his slightly dismissive “I am not that familiar with opera” to tears. On Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Pretty Woman (1990)

Starring Richard Gere, Julia Roberts. Directed by Garry Marshall.

Choosing an opera about a courtesan (Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata) to deepen the connection between businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) and the prostitute, Vivian, the role that made Julia Roberts a star, was much more than a symbolic wink at the two female characters’ “professions.” It revealed Vivian’s sensitive soul as she reacted to the opera, and pushed the two protagonists towards falling in love. The story and music of a love that transcends any situation or condition was an ideal choice for Edward and Vivian’s night at the opera. And it made for a (spoiler alert!) unique, romantic happy ending scene as Richard Gere rides his limousine horse to rescue “princess Vivian,” blasting Violetta’s declaration of love “Amami, Alfredo” (Love me, Alfredo) on the car’s stereo system. Then, of course… “she rescues him right back.”  On Amazon Prime.

Quartet (2013)

Starting Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay. Directed by Dustin Hoffman.

Will love be rekindled with age… and opera? This touching comedy takes place at a home for retired professional musicians, modeled after the real Casa di riposo per musicisti (rest home for musicians) founded by Giuseppe Verdi, and also known as Casa Verdi. Opera makes its presence known with Verdi’s “Brindisi” (drinking song) from La traviata right from the intro and credits. A famous quartet composed of soprano, tenor, mezzo-soprano, and baritone from Verdi’s Rigoletto, “Bella figlia dell’amore” (Beautiful daughter of love) acts as an allegory for the plot. Three retired opera singers had participated in a successful recording of it, but now they are missing their fourth member, the soprano, Jean Horton (Maggie Smith) when, suddenly, she returns. As the artists prepare for the annual benefit concert on Verdi’s birthday, Jean must face her angry ex-husband (Tom Courtenay), one of the quartet’s singers, and justify her past infidelities.  On Amazon Prime.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman. Directed by Frank Darabont. 

A ray of light, a glimmer of hope, a dream of freedom… opera penetrates the bleak, horrifying conditions of Shawshank prison like a divine miracle that stills time, fear, and hatred. Imprisoned for life, banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) risks punishment to broadcast the duet “Sull’ aria” (On the breeze) from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro to the entire prison. At the unearthly sound of the two women’s voices, the inmates freeze, and the prison courtyard becomes a landscape of mesmerized faces, gazing up as though trying to see the floating sound. Andy’s prison buddy, Red (Morgan Freeman), sums it best: “for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free.” If the power of opera to touch the most hardened of hearts ever needed an endorsement, this scene would be it. On Amazon Prime and Netflix.

To Rome With Love (2012)

Starring Woody Allen, Fabio Armiliato. Directed by Woody Allen. 

The film that gives new meaning to singing in the shower with one of the most hilarious onstage operatic scenes ever! One of the four vignettes in the movie centers on funeral director Giancarlo (tenor Fabio Armiliato) who has an astonishing voice that he can let out at full volume only in the shower. No problem; all that American opera director Jerry (Woody Allen) has to do is make the shower an indispensable part of the staging for Fabio to be able to sing the entire role of Canio in Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (Clowns). On Amazon Prime.  

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