Amazon.com Customer Reviews
 Rated 4 out of 5
The movie that started me on opera
I first saw Aria in the theater back in high school (about 3 million years ago) and only because I wanted to impress a girl way more artistic than myself.It worked, but not in a way I’’d expected. The movie, a series of vignettes, runs the whole emotional spectrum. In my younger days, we were blown away by the Wagner/Roddam piece starring a young Fonda, so loving and jarring at the same time. These days I find all the music beautiful, but one or two of the vignettes boring. The entire movie is beautifully shot and all deserves to be watched at least once. After having done that you’’ll find continual enjoyment watching Sturridge, Beresford, Roddam, Jarman, and Bryden’’s interpretations. Who knows, you might fall in love with opera too.  Rated 3 out of 5
Liz Hurley’’s first important role in a movie
This movie provided Liz Hurley with her big break. Soon after this, Dennis Potter snapped her up for the lead role in the BBC adaptation of Christabel Bielenberg’’s ’’The Past is Myself’’. She became Hugh Grant’’s girlfriend and the rest is history. She transformed herself physically during her twenties, which is why some viewers have had problems identifying the occasionally nude actress that appears here as the very slim Liz Hurley they now know.For me, ’’Aria’’ was the classical music community’’s response to the rise of MTV and the pop video. Directors like Ken Russell and Nick Roeg wanted to show us that opera could be equally colourful and sexy, even if you couldn’’t dance to it. And they proved their case, to my mind. But like a pop video, you wouldn’’t want to watch this too often. There’’s no substantive connection between each of the videos, so you end up feeling much the same as you would after a 90-minute immersion in MTV. - Rated 3 out of 5
Great the first time, tends average, not for everyone
This movie was great the first time, on the big screen. The music and the images shock you, and make you squirm and react to this movie. It’’s an artistic roller coaster ride.I’’ve found since, however, that this shocking quality doesn’’t preserve especially well. My favorite way of watching this movie these days, is to turn the music on, while I’’m doing stuff around the house, occassionally looking at the images. It’’s artistry, it doesn’’t hold up under critical thinking. Who will like this movie? Despite (or perhaps because of) the billing of mature content, I think that this is a good film for teenage viewers with a liking for art films. One must be able to appreciate both the variety and intensity of the images, and be able to forgive the story. Not a problem in an action movie, but for an "art film", it shows it’’s high concept roots. Maybe a gift for an opera lover, or an "art film" buff.
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