I had never heard of Farinelli before the movie got released. I only now got around to seeing it. On the one hand, you gotta admire the sheer passion that they put into the movie: the performances, the music, and the sumptuous production design. On the other hand, it sounds as though the movie took a number of creative liberties, as much of Farinelli's personal life remains a mystery.

Either way, I do recommend "Farinelli" as a look at the world of 18th-century opera. Not any sort of masterpiece, but impressive nonetheless.

This was an extremely pretty, but ultimately pretty unengaging film. The sets are lovely and the singing, for those who like this kind of music, is great but ultimately the story failed to engage me on anything but a superficial level. The based on truth story just doesn't have enough going on to merit a movie. Yes, Farinelli has no testicles and can't ultimately satisfy his lovers. In steps his brother to "finish the job". About the only interesting tidbit I gathered was that you ultimately find out this brother is the one who actually arranged to turn Farinelli into a castrato. Yuck. I get that. So what is next? Unfortunately, not much.

Farinelli may not to me be perfect, the sex scenes do get too much and I didn't find the lip synching to be anywhere near convincing as you can tell that the singing was not coming out of the actor. There are plenty of positives though. I personally did find the drama engrossing, true it isn't faithful from a historical standpoint, then again I can't think of any biopic of a musician or composer that didn't take some kind of liberty with the truth, but Farinelli is an emotionally-charged film and there was plenty of that. That is also true of the writing, which flows well and didn't feel jarring. The film looks spectacular, the costumes and sets are gorgeous to look at and is shot and directed beautifully. I have no faults with the music either, it is so good that my appreciation for early music further grew. The singing is equally wonderful, the scene in the theatre with the long high note was unbelievable. Stefano Dionisi is magnetic in the title role, Enrico Lo Verso brings intensity to the role of the "less talented" brother, Marianne Cellier has a very expressive face and Jereon Knabbe gives one of his best ever performances positively relishing his role as Handel(even if you question whether Handel was really like that). All in all, a very good film, fascinating and a visual and musical feast. 8/10 Bethany Cox