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Diva Dolorosa

Documentary, 1999, 75 min.

Diva Dolorosa - Goddess of Sorrow - is a film compilation about acting in the famous Italian diva films between 1913 and 1920. This film - composed entirely of found footage shows how Lyda Borelli, Pina Menichelli and Francesca Bertini, the great stars of the Italian melodrama, portray archetypal characters and keep their feet by adopting a role. One can see how the femme fatale manipulates the man in refined love-play, how the hysterica suddenly lets her hair hang down, shouts and cries with fury and pain when her husband has committed adultery or she has lost a child. And how, after the attack, sleep and the sickbed follow: the femme fragile. The music specially composed for the film by Loek Dikker was performed live during the première in the Holland Festival.

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