La Scala: The Force of Destiny

The Italian Film Festival is on at Luna in Freo. Here’s Barry Healy’s review of La Scala. He likes it! A ‘magical film’ he says, especially for lovers of opera.

Milan’s Teatro alla Scala is widely regarded as the ultimate bastion of Italian opera and symbol of European artistic prestige. The word ‘mystique’ was invented for places like this. The opening night of its season, 7 December each year, is a major event in Italy and draws movers and shakers from around the world.

La Scala: The Force of Destiny, directed by Anissa Bonnefont, takes us behind the scenes as the theatre prepares for its 2025 premiere. The film immerses the viewer in the months of preparation for the Verdi composition, withhundreds of people working under enormous pressure. An opera production is not simply the work of the singers and musicians in the spotlight. It is a huge collective enterprise involving craftspeople, technicians, designers, stagehands and administrators.

The camera’s access is remarkable. Like a fly on the wall, we see the vast, industrial workshops where sets are constructed, the costume departments where intricate outfits are prepared and the massive backstage machinery that remains invisible to the audience.

The film avoids the usual documentary formula of talking heads explaining what we are seeing or narration telling us what to think. Instead, the camera follows the work as it happens, moving chronologically towards La Prima, the opening night. That approach creates its tension.

With the deadline approaching, small problems must betackled before they become major concerns and the enormous complexity of the production becomes increasingly apparent. A costume, a set, a technical adjustment or a single musical note can have consequences far beyond the immediate context. A singer used to singing in French, for example, has to adjust their pronunciation of a single syllable for the impact to be correct.

There is something fascinating about watching experts at their craft working under pressure. The excitement of opera is not confined to the stage; it is also found in the concentration, passionate discussions, last-minute adjustments and sheer physical labour that make the performance possible.

At the centre of this are conductor Riccardo Chailly and stage director Leo Muscato. Both manage the backstage fluiditywithout succumbing to the pressure. Their professionalism and concentration are laser sharp as the opening night draws closer.

There is a particular hypnotic and soulful moment when Chailly leads the orchestra through a quiet passage of the score during rehearsals. This is magical film making and anyone unfamiliar with opera will be introduced to its majesty.

By the time the curtain finally rises, the performance feels like the final phase of a much larger drama. The audience in the theatre sees only the finished spectacle with its powerful anti-war message. La Scala: The Force of Destiny shows us everything that had to happen before the lights went down.

*By Barry Healy

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