A multi-director film weaving ten operatic segments into a cohesive exploration of love, violence, and performance.
Story Structure — 4 Plot Phases
Royal Intrigue & Urban Chaos
The film opens with King Zog's politically charged Vienna visit and assassination attempt. This is followed by scenes of youthful rebellion and infidelity farces across London and San Luis Obispo.
Key Events
Opening Credits Prelude — Film opens with Verdi's La traviata prelude setting a grand tone. Location: Cinema Screen
King Zog Vienna Visit — King Zog arrives in Vienna to see a lover amid political tension. Characters: King ZogLocation: Vienna Opera House
Assassination Attempt — Opponents attempt to assassinate King Zog during his visit. Characters: King ZogLocation: Opera House Steps
King Zog Survival — King Zog survives by shooting back, altering his immediate fate. Characters: King ZogLocation: Opera House Steps
London Children Statue — Three children devote themselves to a Virgin Mary statue. Location: London Streets
Car Theft & Arson — Children steal and set fire to a luxury car, later watching news coverage. Location: London Streets
Desire & Deception
Themes of fascination and hidden affairs unfold in a gymnasium and a motel. The narrative shifts to desolate winter landscapes and intimate chamber duets, exploring longing and isolation.
Key Events
Car Theft & Arson — Children steal and set fire to a luxury car, later watching news coverage. Location: London Streets
Gym Cleaners Entranced — Two female cleaners watch male bodybuilders with intense fascination. Location: Gymnasium
Producer Infidelity — A movie producer cheats on his wife with a German starlet. Location: Madonna Inn
Spouse Secret Encounter — The producer's spouse is secretly present with another lover. Location: Madonna Inn
Elvis Impersonator Finale — Segment concludes with a dance routine to La donna è mobile. Location: Madonna Inn
Bruges Winter Footage — Empty buildings and deserted streets establish a desolate atmosphere. Location: Bruges Streets
Tragedy & Surrealism
An asylum audience witnesses a surreal opera preview. Young lovers in Las Vegas drive through the night, culminating in a fatal bathtub scene that marks the emotional peak.
Key Events
Bruges Winter Footage — Empty buildings and deserted streets establish a desolate atmosphere. Location: Bruges Streets
Lovers Bed Chamber — Footage intercuts with a duet of two lovers in an ornate room. Location: Ornate Bed Chamber
Asylum Audience Preview — An opera preview is performed for an audience of mental asylum inmates. Location: Théâtre Le Ranelagh
Las Vegas Night Drive — Two young lovers drive down Fremont Street at night. Characters: LoverLocation: Fremont Street
Hotel Intimacy — Lovers share intimate moments in a modest hotel room. Characters: LoverLocation: Cheap Hotel
Wrist Slashing — Lovers slash their wrists in the bath, leading to a fatal outcome. Characters: LoverLocation: Hotel Bathroom
Performance & Finality
A car crash victim experiences a surreal surgical ritual. The film concludes with a veteran singer's final act and an aging virtuoso's solitary death, bookended by operatic overtures.
Key Events
Wrist Slashing — Lovers slash their wrists in the bath, leading to a fatal outcome. Characters: LoverLocation: Hotel Bathroom
Car Crash & Surgery — A woman unconscious after a crash imagines a tribal ritual during surgery. Location: Hospital
Singer Final Performance — A veteran opera singer delivers her final performance intercut with home movies. Location: Opera Stage
Virtuoso Death — An aging virtuoso mimes to a recording and dies alone. Location: Empty Opera House
Closing Credits Cycle — Closing credits replay excerpts set to La traviata overture, closing the cycle. Location: Cinema Screen
Story Breakdown
Operatic Framework — The structural backbone using classical music to unify disparate narratives.
Verdi Prelude — Opening and closing musical bookends.
Wagner Liebestod — Thematic focus on romantic fatalism.
Puccini Aria — Surreal imagery during medical crisis.
Political & Historical Threads — Segments grounded in real-world events and royal intrigue.
King Zog Visit — Historical figure's fictionalized Vienna trip.
Assassination Plot — Political violence targeting the monarch.
Survival Aftermath — King Zog's escape and continued journey.
Youth & Rebellion — Stories of young characters challenging norms.
London Car Theft — Children stealing and burning a luxury vehicle.
Gym Cleaners — Working-class women observing bodybuilders.
Statue Devotion — Religious fixation driving criminal acts.
Infidelity & Farce — Comedic and dramatic explorations of marital betrayal.
Producer Cheating — Movie producer's affair with a starlet.
Spouse Secret — Wife's clandestine encounter at the same inn.
Elvis Finale — Musical resolution to the bedroom farce.
Love & Destruction — Intense romantic arcs leading to tragic ends.
Bruges Winter — Desolate landscapes mirroring emotional coldness.
Las Vegas Drive — Young lovers navigating a fatal night.
Fatal Bath — Joint suicide pact concluding the romance.
Performance & Mortality — Meta-narratives about artists facing aging and death.
Asylum Audience — Inmates experiencing opera as surreal escape.
Singer Final Act — Veteran performer's last stage appearance.
Virtuoso Death — Aging musician's solitary end in empty hall.
Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.
