Meeting Venus

Directed by: István Szabó

RS: Not Rated

1991 Romance

Glenn Close sings! well, not really. In her role as soprano Karin Anderson, performing Wagner's TannhSuser in Paris for a TV special, Close is dubbed by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. It's a dangerous liaison; when it comes to lip-syncing, Close is no Milli Vanilli. Rest assured the acting is all hers, though. She hams it up in true diva style, as Anderson bends a huge opera company to her iron will and seduces her married Hungarian conductor, Zoltan Szanto, well played by Niels Arestrup.

Hungarian director Istvßn Szab= (Mephisto) wants the battles of this international company to stand for the communication problems of a newly unified Europe. Directing a version of TannhSuser onstage gave him the idea. At best, the film is a comic tower of Babel, with France's Maria de Medeiros, America's Jay O. Sanders and Sweden's Erland Josephson (cast as a Spaniard) adding to the creative chaos. It's a shame that Szab= allows the achingly conventional love story to muffle his satirical aria.

PETER TRAVERS
RS 618