Pavarotti, the new documentary by Ron Howard, was not well-
reviewed and so didn’t make it to the top of the movies for date night list for
the reluctant wife and me this summer, even though the rest of the movie world
has felt like pretty slim pickings. But
we decided, on a particularly bleak movie weekend, to brave it. I’m glad we did – though I might have
preferred to wait for it on video – some of the other audience members seem to
have thought it was already being screened in their living room so they chatted about their memories of
the big events and, worse, sang along with the best arias – out of tune. I
really felt that the advantages of a good screen and great audio were somewhat wasted.
Luciano Pavarotti was born with a great voice and he studied
the art of singing as a tenor. This film
does a nice job of filling in a little bit about what that means without
becoming too technical or preachy.
Pavarotti became an opera star for the masses, and this film follows in
that tradition. And it is a tradition
that was established long before Pavarotti – the film starts with a grainy
video of Pavarotti going upriver in the Amazon to an perform – unannounced – in
an opera house that Caruso performed in on one of his many world tours. And Pavarotti clearly desires to, quite literally, follow in his footsteps as he sings to an almost entirely empty house just to say that he has filled the house that Caruso did with sound.
Pavarotti’s father was a baker and tenor in Modena, a small
Italian town not far from Florence. He has inherited there the mantle
of the renaissance, which continues to flow from and support the growth of
the individual spirit throughout the world – and Pavarotti’s life oddly mirrors
that flowering – and some of its decay – or sprouting new wings and losing its
way.
Pavarotti only came to realize himself as a great tenor
after he already was one. And he seems
to have kept some of his boyish charm and a great deal of his fear of being out
of place as he developed wings that took him far from his roots. Many of the criticisms of this film include
aspects of his character that are not highlighted here – that he failed to show
up for performances at the Chicago Opera almost as frequently as he performed
there. That he failed to live up to his
promise. That he failed to learn how to read music.
I think this film allows Pavarotti’s failings to be read
between the lines. It is a celebration
of him, but there is also a fair amount of appreciation for his failure to have stayed within the lines of a career.
Instead, he seems to have strayed away – to have been seduced by a
variety of sirens.
First and foremost, Pavarotti was seduced by the siren of
fame. He shifted from a primarily
operatic career – and we could see this as a career where he would have been
performing for the moneyed and cultured elite – using his talents to keep alive
a tradition of emotional expression that they would have enjoyed in their
cloistered spaces – where all the trappings of wealth are dripping from the
walls and ceilings. And he would have been a kind of lightning rod for emotional experience - a kind of vicarious bringer of catharsis to those who, one might argue, need it most as they have to live lives that are regimented enough to be able to dress for the opera...
Instead, Pavarotti was lured by a Rock and Roll promoter to
sing to the masses – to become a rock star.
Which he did. He sang in outdoor
concerts that attracted tens of thousands - including the reluctant wife and her BFFB (Best Friend From Birth) who saw him and the two other tenors perform in the old Detroit Tigers stadium.
And what attracted those who came, over the course of his lifetime – 10
million people – was more than just his phrasing of classical arias – though
that was part of it – but his bigger than life persona – a persona that is
poignantly portrayed here of a gregarious, happy man who is also tremendously
needy and insecure. Someone who says,
before he performs, that we are going on stage to die.
So Pavarotti’s second siren is that his neediness and
ability draws people to him, including Princess Diana and Bono, and he joins
the ranks of the transcendent stars – the people who, in the wake of Elvis –
have a worldwide following. But he makes
use of this in interesting ways. He
travels to China where he both performs and teaches. He starts to invite rock and roll stars to an
annual event in Modena where they perform and raise money for causes – most all
involving children. And he shows up –
much like Princess Diana – to connect with these children. To fold them into his bigger than life
persona.
The third siren, that of women, is one that is treated with
a kind of protestant discomfort which I find a bit odd in this movie about a
Catholic man. Yes, Pavarotti had
affairs. How can you imagine that he did
not? He was a needy guy, with the voice,
who spent most of his time far from home – pining for it – making pasta
everywhere, but also pining for the contact – the intimate contact – of home. That he had the two long time lovers that were interviewed – and I’m sure there were others who were not so long term – but that he
had positive and ongoing relationships with two women is, I think,
healthy - though they were both younger than he and dependent on him. But he was devoted to them. What was a problem in Catholic
Italy was that he sued for divorce in order to marry one of his mistresses, I think, more than that he had dalliances. While the women may have been disgusted, the eldest reluctant stepdaughter's experiences as student in Italy suggest that the men would have been cheering him on.
In one of the revealing moments of the film, an older record
executive tells of his first foray as a much younger man, into the world of
being a record exec. He was charged with
confronting Pavarotti about the fact that he was not living up to his recording
contract – he was recording for another label – the label owned by his
wife. Pavarotti asked the young exec if
everything was OK. The exec said
no. He said that Pavarotti had signed an
exclusive agreement with Decca records.
Pavarotti wanted to know what exclusive meant. After the exec explained it, Pavarotti’s
response was, “Life is too short.”
Now the particular problem was solved by having Decca buy
Pavarotti’s wife’s record company from her.
But the issue of exclusivity is one that is central but not attended to
in a direct way through the rest of the film, though a red thread connects it
to the elements in Pavarotti’s life. He
fails in fidelity to his wife, to the record company, but also to the Operatic
community. By doing this, he brings into
his life regrets – chiefly about the schism that is created with his wife, but
especially with his three daughters from the first marriage. It is clear that he loves these girls and now women deeply. He also creates a rift with the operatic community.
Finally, he uses his gift to take operatic arias to the masses –
in addition to the 10 million who see him live, he sells 100 million records. Wow.
And he teaches others how to sing.
But he does not take Opera to the masses, he takes himself – and the arias that he lifts out of context - and he promotes
himself as a Rock and Roll star. He
doesn’t explain how the arias work – he doesn’t bring opera to life – he connects
with his fans through his voice. He provides catharsis for all. And the
masses become familiar with “Nessum Dorma” through him – and this leads,
perhaps, to an unknown cell phone salesman in the UK performing that work on Britain’s Got Talent
and bringing the house down – but it doesn’t lead the masses into the opera
houses, nor does it lead to a proliferation of opera beyond the traditional
venues. Even though Pavarotti performed
on the first live opera television show, beamed from the Met, it wasn’t
something that “took”. His solo
performances were much more engaging and watched.
The film talked about Pavarotti losing focus – and this is,
I think, what I mean by his losing fidelity.
He lost track of what brought him to the party – and he found the party
so enticing that it was hard to keep on top of it – to use his position in
the broadest way to organize his life rather than to be organized by it. Bono, whom Pavarotti pestered into becoming a
friend, characterized his later performances, which were marked by vocal breaks
– not as the signs of a diminished capacity to sing, but as bringing his lived
experience into the opera house to play the parts not just by being able to
sing them, but by having lived them.
Bono was, in a weird way, echoing the eldest reluctant stepdaughter who
has maintained that scars are souvenirs of life.
Pavarotti’s tragic end was not that he was shot, nor that he
was poisoned or stabbed, but that he was hospitalized with cancer. He was able to connect with all of this
family members at the end of his life, and there is some solace in the
realization of his having been loved as well as having loved - not just broadly, but intimately and closely, by mistresses, a wife, and four daughters. My own protestant complaint about his lack of
fidelity – something that has interfered in some of the analyses that I have
conducted – becomes a judgement of his character – that he is not able to
retain fidelity of character.
I think my criticism of Pavarotti’s character is harsh,
though I think there is some truth to it.
I think it is harsh because his character was exposed to forces that
were profoundly and powerfully disruptive.
He was adored by millions, travelling far from his home base – both in
Modena and in the operatic scene – and he expressed his love in the life that
was too short for him – for any of us – in the best way that circumstances
allowed. The critics would have had
Howard take a more critical position regarding Pavarotti. I, at least, was able to see, in the film
itself, the person whose fidelity cracked.
I was also able to deeply empathize with his experience of his life
becoming dearer as the room left to live it became shorter. I found this, despite my fellow audience
members, to be a deeply moving and instructive film.
Bravo!
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