Don Giovanni (1979) on Netflix
Don Giovanni, a seducer, pursues Donna Anna, then the bride-to-be Zerlina. Donna Anna's father, Il Commendatore, dies at his hands. Donna Elvira, whom he seduced and abandoned, stands in his way.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Mozart's opera, drawn from the Don Juan legend, reaches the screen with its original libretto and music, its action moved from Spain to the Venetian locations and the Palladian buildings in and around Vicenza. The singers recorded their arias in advance and lip-synched on camera. Don Giovanni is a seducer who moves from one conquest to the next. Donna Elvira, whom he seduced and then abandoned, confronts him. Donna Anna's father, Il Commendatore, dies at Giovanni's hands, and Donna Anna is engaged to Don Ottavio. On the day of a peasant wedding, Giovanni turns his attention to the bride-to-be Zerlina, and Donna Elvira frustrates him, while his servant Leporello is pulled into his schemes.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Don Giovanni (1979)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Mozart's opera is supposedly set in Spain, but because Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto was written in Italian, Joseph Losey's film used locations in Venice and Murano, plus buildings by Palladio in and around Vicenza: the Basilica Palladiana, Villa Rotonda, Villa Caldogno and Teatro Olimpico.
- The singers pre-recorded their arias and lip-synched to them on screen, but the recitatives in Don Giovanni were recorded live on set, with the cast accompanied on harpsichord by Janine Reiss.
