Opera Singer on the Silver Screen: Certified Copy

I could say that I was motivated to see Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy by a sense of guilt about only knowing the Iranian director's work second-hand, or by curiosity to see what sort of role had been made for William Shimell, and what the baritone would make of it.  But, although both of these things would be partially true, they leave out the overwhelming, deciding factor that got me to the cinema, and that is that I have a massive celebrity crush on Juliette Binoche.  In all the films I've seen her in, she has left me with an impression of inimitable elegance, and a sense of the emotional truth of the journey undergone by whatever character she portrays.  Reviewers seem to drift towards describing the film as a bittersweet, thoughtful romantic comedy (using at least three of those four words; rearrangement optional.)  I think it would be more accurate to call it a discussion of philosophy, aesthetics, communication theory, and socialized gender roles.  For this, I believe, it certainly is, although it also remains determinedly enigmatic and ambivalent.  Binoche and Shimell, with other characters drifting in and out of their narrative, discuss and debate life and art, while wandering through Tuscany.  What's not to like? 

Così fan tutte

In the wise words of the Beloved Flatmate, "Gender in opera is never NOT problematic."  In addition to recording and libretto perusal, I prepared for last night's Opera Outing by looking through essays with the trained scholar in me chanting "Problematize! problematize!" and some other part of me saying "...Happy Mozart?"  Everyone starting with the New Grove Guide to Mozart notes Così's history of being labeled as one of Mozart's "weaker" operas, and the problematic, clearly temporary nature of its "resolution."  (For me, this doesn't seem terribly exceptional: I always want to know what happens after the curtain falls.  If there's anyone left alive, that is.)  An essay in Jean Starobinski's Enchantment: The Seductress in Opera (did someone mention problematic gender in opera?) persuasively argues for the significance of the setting of Naples, noting the Neapolitan tradition of opera buffa with its stock characters, and the recurring sea and volcanoes of the libretto.   I read about the Enlightenment and social and theatrical sensibilities (as well as the use of key structure to indicate falsehood and sincerity) in Andrew Steptoe's  The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas.  A chapter in Jessica Waldoff's Recognition in Mozart's Operas (how could I not read a chapter entitled "Sense and Sensibility in Così fan tutte"?) argues that

"the opera's representation of sentimental experience [is forced] to divide against itself.... One has the sense that here as nowhere else in Mozart the lieto fine is a compromise with neither the characters nor the audience can be entirely comfortable.  In its resistance to the reconciliation recognition brings, Così remains true to sentimental experience."

It also remains problematic.  I threw up my hands and went to the opera.