Diva

Thanks to a good arthouse video store, I managed to re-watch Diva, a French cult film that was an important part of my adolescent years. 

Diva is a 1981 French thriller film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, adapted from the novel Diva by Daniel Odier (under the pseudonym Delacorta). It is one of the first French films to let go of the realist mood of 1970s French cinema and return to a colourful, melodic style, later described as cinéma du look.

The film made a successful debut in France in 1981 and had success in the US the next year. The film became a cult classic and was internationally acclaimed.

When young messenger Jules (Frederic Andrei) makes an illegal recording of a famed opera singer's live performance he becomes inveigled in a madcap chase, pursued by a gang of Taiwanese music pirates and mistaken by a team of ruthless assassins. His life is turned upside down as he survives the thrills and spills of the unpredictable and unforgettable Parisian underworld.

An ingenious mix of comedy, romance and action DIVA is considered one of the most influential thrillers of the last twenty years. As stylish as ever DIVA remains a pivotal film that helped launche the Cinema Du Look movement and announce Beineix as a bold new talent in world cinema.

Two berets feature in the film (see these screen shots), one of the beautiful army veteran in the Parisian metro - you have to see the film to appreciate it.