British and French Approaches to the Representation of Vivaldi in Two Films: Stereotypes, Romanticism, and Novelization

Resumo

 This article shines a light on Antonio Vivaldi, the Italian baroque composer, and the way he is depicted in two fiction films: Vivaldi, un prince à Venise, a French film directed by Jean-Louis Guillermou released in 2007 and Vivaldi, The Red Priest, an English-Italian film released in 2009 in television format, directed by Liana Marabini. Both paint a picture of the musician based on a number of historical facts while taking liberties with other parts of his life. The early musical rendition tends to overdo a certain romanticism, far from the original spirit of baroque music: this particular aspect is found in both movies, where the directors favored the romantic image of Vivaldi. The chosen musical interpretations in the French film seem to illustrate the film sequences as a simple background music while the suffering of the musician is shown with complacency in Vivaldi, The Red Priest. Eventually, both films choose not to focus on the musician at work in his daily life. These narrative strategies and the intentional focus on the romantic characteristics of the musician’s life give nothing but a sanitized view of the 18^th century composer and baroque music.