La Bohème

Writer and Director: Robin Norton-Hale from their stage production and the opera composed by Giacomo Puccini

Opera is often perceived as an elitist form of entertainment. Yet operas are frequently staged in a radical, daring manner rather than in a traditional period setting. During the Covid lockdown the English National Opera staged Puccini’s La Bohème as a socially-distanced drive-in production and the same opera served as the basis for the rock musical Rent. In his film adaptation of La Bohème (based upon the stage production for Opera Up Close) writer and director Robin Norton-Hale aspires to be accessible rather than radical.

The adaptation moves the story from Paris to present-day East London where a group of four artistically and intellectually-inclined graduates share a flat and, being short of funds, find ways of cheating their landlord out of the rent. A power cut brings writer Rodolfo (Matthew McKinney) together with Mimì (Lucy Hall) who is locked out of her apartment and unable to find the key in the dark. There is an immediate mutual attraction between the two and they form a relationship. This contrasts with the on-again, off-again connection between painter Marcello (Benson Wilson) and free-spirited Musetta (Julia Mariko) which is stormy and subject to emotional outbursts. Mimi’s health is frail and Rodolfo, frustrated by his inability to resolve their abject poverty and cure her illness, feigns jealousy so as to push her towards a more prosperous lover-with tragic consequences.

Robin Norton-Hale modernises the story to make it more accessible to a contemporary audience. Mimi works as a cleaner rather than an embroiderer and the intellectual Colline (Edward Jowle) is gay. More significantly the libretto is in English not Italian. This is an obvious aid to comprehension although some of the lyrics are coarser than one might expect in an opera – ‘’Get ‘em off’’ and ‘’You’re pushing your luck’’.

Although all of the key scenes in the opera are included the film adaptation is a stripped-down version running a brisk 107 minutes. This suits an environment in which the characters are pushed for funds. Members of the orchestra, conducted by Alice Farnham, are wrapped in winter hats and coats, and perform on the rooftop as if they cannot afford to rent a conventional rehearsal space.

Other updates are less successful; the comic scene of Rodolfo trying to heat the apartment by burning his manuscript does not really work in the age of smoke detectors. The original opera established the romantic image of a group of artists living a Bohemian lifestyle –nobly pursuing artistic endeavours despite enduring a poverty-stricken, hand-to-mouth existence. In the film the characters live in a comfortable flat giving the impression they are slumming it rather than being truly in financial need. But this leads fittingly into the subdued conclusion with the friends forced to acknowledge the limitations of the Bohemian lifestyle and pawning their few possessions to raise funds to help Mimi. A framing sequence of a tormented Rodolfo alone suggests the friendship may not have survived the crisis.

As the characters regularly complain about the cold weather directors usually set productions of the opera in the Christmas period. Although festive music plays in the background of the film more obvious seasonal features, such as snow, are absent. The lush spectacular backing which an audience might expect of an opera is another causality of the streamlined production. The usual lavish street scene of festive vendors and groups of excited children is omitted.

Director Robin Norton-Hale takes advantage of the film medium to open up the story beyond the confines of the apartment – the comic scene of musician Schaunard being hired to play his violin to a parrot is shown rather than described. However, the nature of opera imposes limits upon the film; the characters spend a lot of time standing still and singing so the movie is static with very little action. An exception is Julia Mariko’s provocative Musetta; proudly posing on pub tables and proclaiming her unapologetic confrontational approach to life to the crowd.

The static set up works well in the first meeting between Rodolfo and Mimì . The enforced closeness between the two characters allows the gradual development of a more intimate emotion and the audience can concentrate upon the quality of the singing by Matthew McKinney and Lucy Hall. Filmed close-ups of Lucy Hall’s face allows the audience to glimpse Mimi’s eager apprehension as  the famous aria “Che gelida manina” begins and she anticipates possible seduction by Rodolfo.

Although Robin Norton-Hale’s adaptation of La Bohème reduces the desperation of a Bohemian life lived on the breadline it is highly accessible and will serve as an excellent introduction for audiences who might be daunted by the highbrow reputation of opera.

La Bohème premieres across the UK in cinemas on 3 March.