Farinelli: Il Castrato

R

Released Dec 7, 1994

1h 50m

Biography

Drama

Music

List

60%

25 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Carlo (Stefano Dionisi) and Riccardo Broschi (Enrico Lo Verso) are a brother act: Ricardo is a composer who writes the music and Carlo a castrato who sings it beautifully. But Carlo is clearly the more talented of the two, and soon becomes wildly famous -- first in Italy and then throughout Europe -- as the legendary castrato Farinelli. Riccardo takes to managing his celebrity sibling, but, when the composer Handel (Jeroen Krabbé) begins working with Farinelli, Riccardo's resentment surfaces.

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: C

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Artistry abounds in every aspect of the film.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 13, 2001

Full Review

Edward Guthmann

San Francisco Chronicle

Glossy and histrionic, salacious and empty, Farinelli reduces a fascinating story to a series of hissy fits and leering glances.

Rated: 1/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Mal Vincent

The Virginian-Pilot

In an age in which the castrato voice no longer exists, the moviemakers recreated an intriguing facsimile.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 25, 2022

Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

Farinelli is lush and theatrical in the way you'd expect a movie about an opera singer to be but, somehow, it's also dry and dull.

May 24, 2019

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

While visually vibrant and generally well-acted, Farinelli is strangely not very compelling.

Rated: 2.5/4

Apr 24, 2019

Full Review

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DVRK P

Excellent story telling. very good use of fast forwards, letting us just know what we need to know from the past in order to understand what we are experiencing from the current times that are shown, but yet keeping alive the intrigue that gets disguises with the many relevant events that are happening through the Broschi brothers, but doesn't keep us from wondering about the real origin from this story that won't be revealed to us until we are very submerged into the film. The pursue of excellence takes out the most gruesome and raw decisions from all the characters on Farinelli. It is compelling how none of the characters, or the plot itself, gets spoiled with power/money aspects as it could be expected from such situation. But instead, all of them share an inexorable search for excellence within music. Very nice movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/11/24

Full Review

Audience Member

A lot of people seem to confuse their lust for a beautiful actor with the artistic merit of a film. This one really isn't very good, though rescued by the opera scenes.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Un film che romanza fin troppo la vita dell'artista e che alla fine lascia ben poco allo spettatore.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I know the movie isn't based on true history of Farinelli because little is known for that period, but i liked the end of the movie, in which Farinelli is fulfilled in love despite his cruel fate .

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Looks good but feels somehow empty, disjointed, and hard to be invested in.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Farinelli, gives an idea of how it was the art of the period and the suffering of a Castrati such as Farinelli despite having apparently everything. The big flaw it suffers it's that drama and modernism exaggerate and breaks what happened in reality, but otherwise, is a well done film about the considered greatest castrati of all time.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

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Gérard Corbiau

Director

Stefano Dionisi

Carlo Broschi

Enrico Lo Verso

Riccardo Broschi

Elsa Zylberstein

Alexandra

Jeroen Krabbé

George Frideric Handel

Caroline Cellier

Margareth Hunter

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Synopsis

Carlo (Stefano Dionisi) and Riccardo Broschi (Enrico Lo Verso) are a brother act: Ricardo is a composer who writes the music and Carlo a castrato who sings it beautifully. But Carlo is clearly the more talented of the two, and soon becomes wildly famous -- first in Italy and then throughout Europe -- as the legendary castrato Farinelli. Riccardo takes to managing his celebrity sibling, but, when the composer Handel (Jeroen Krabbé) begins working with Farinelli, Riccardo's resentment surfaces.

Director: Gérard Corbiau
Producer: Linda Gutenberg, Dominique Janne, Aldo Lado, Stéphane Thenoz
Production Co: Italian International Film
Rating: R
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 7, 1994, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 23, 2019
Runtime: 1h 50m
Sound Mix: Surround

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