Rostropovich rises in Netflix Diana disaster

Rostropovich rises in Netflix Diana disaster

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norman lebrecht

October 03, 2021

If you haven’t watched the Netflix film of Diana: The Musical you may count it time well saved. Critics are giving this turkey one star at most.

Perhaps the only saving grace is a faked scene of a Bach recital to which Diana is dragged early on in the film by Charles. The soloist is an unconvincing body-double for the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich,

On screen, Diana sings: ‘The Russian plays on and on / Like an endless telethon / How I wish he were Elton John!’

Time to end my Netflix subscription?

Comments

  • Jan Kaznowski says:

    There’s a Woody Allen film where the Bach Cello Suites are pointedly boring the audience (I think High Grant plays one of those nodding off)

    • Allen says:

      Far from the first time that the film industry has done something like this. Sends a very negative message to those with little exposure to classical music.

      Everybody knows that it’s boring, right?

      • V. Lind says:

        It’s a bit like religion (well, Christian and mainly C of E) on TV and in movies. Principals are expected not to be interested in such things. Often done without overt hostility, just the attitude that sophisticated young to middle aged people are not sucked into either religion or classical music.

        It started quite a while ago but has really got traction in this century.

  • Paul Dawson says:

    Happy to see they got the subjunctive right.

  • V. Lind says:

    Diana was quite interested in classical music. Not perhaps knowledgeable, especially compared to her husband, but she had specific tastes and was apparently a proficient pianist.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    Let this sad woman rest in peace; she had little enough joy during the last few years of her life that she doesn’t need the additional insult of an opera written about her. Here’s an idea; write one about Meghan Markle and call it the “Markle Sparkle; or how I learned to stop loving the privacy and love myself”.

  • Novagerio says:

    An acted Pablo Casals playing Bach at the White House makes also a brief appearence in the gorgeous film The Butler, with Forest Whitaker.

  • Edoardo says:

    By now you should know what to watch and what no…

  • Zee says:

    I watched parts of it – truly awful.

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