Opéra imaginaire (translates as "an opera for the imagination") is a 1993 live-action animated musical anthology television film.
It has been compared to films like Fantasia[1] and Allegro Non Troppo, and consists of 12 different segments,[2] most of which are based on different popular operas.
[citation needed] The film begins with "Je crois entendre encore" (from Georges Bizet's opera Les pêcheurs de perles) playing, while screenshots from each of the 12 segments appear.
"Vesti la giubba", from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, sung by Enrico Caruso (in 1902) in the aria's introduction and Franco Corelli (in 1960) throughout the rest of it.
A stop motion animation based on the opera with a dark comedy theme and the characters rendered as circus-style clowns.
A "happier" ending is shown with the 2D-animated ghost of Nedda reconciling with a rather obese Canio after he had "accidentally" killed her.
"La donna è mobile", from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto, sung by Nicolai Gedda.
In the crimson heart of the wine in his glass, the (live-acted) Duke of Mantua embarks on a 2D fantasy in which he sees hand-drawn animated nude women based on those who come from famous paintings by French painters.
Oh, I can remember feeling just like Cherubino, the page; young enough to be allowed liberties and, uh, old enough to take advantage of them.
"Voi che sapete", from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro, sung by Suzanne Danco.
A tribute to Cherubino's cross-dressing adventures, rendered through paper cut-out style animation against CGI backgrounds.
"Un bel dì vedremo", from Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, sung by Felicia Weathers.
"Au fond du temple saint", also from Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles, sung by Nicolai Gedda and Ernest Blanc.
A wispy, black-and-white, rotoscoped animation depicting a condensed version of the opera's plot set to its famous aria.
"Bald prangt, den Morgen zu verkünden ... Du also bist mein Bräutigam", from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, sung by Lucia Popp.
"Questo è un nodo avviluppato", from Gioachino Rossini's opera La Cenerentola, sung in sextet in 1963 by Giulietta Simionato, Ugo Benelli, Sesto Bruscantini, Dora Carra, Miti Truccato Pace, and Paolo Montarsolo with the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and conducted by Oliviero De Fabritiis.
A sunny take on the opera and the Cinderella fairy tale through hand-drawn animation with the characters randomly assuming each other's identities, as well as those of characters from other fairy tales, including "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", "Little Red Riding Hood", and "The Three Little Pigs".
"Le veau d'or", from Charles Gounod's opera Faust, sung by Nicolai Ghiaurov.
A hand-drawn, sketchy rendition of the ill-fated romance between Faust and Marguerite as the booming voice of Mephistopheles, who manipulates them like puppets, sings throughout the sequence.
"Noi siamo zingarelle", from Verdi's opera La traviata, sung by the Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome, and conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli.
An unrelated visual version of the opera with stop motion claymation sweets attempting to bring colour to a world made of white cake.
"Flower Duet", from Léo Delibes's opera Lakmé, sung by Mady Mesplé and Danielle Millet with the Orchestre du Théâtre national de l'Opéra Comique, and conducted by Alain Lombard.
A rendition of the opera in which Lakmé's arms and hands, through CGI, turn into various flora and fauna that are found in the jungles of India, including a tree, a cobra, a deer, a bird, a leopard, a woman's arm with bracelets, a rock, a human, a boat, a clump of reeds, and others, as Gérald (live-acted) meets Lakmé (live-acted) in the temple.
An eerie hand-drawn animation depicting Cavaradossi's final hours of life observed by the angel of death and Baron Scarpia's attempted advance on Tosca.
During the end credits, the film closes again with Bizet's "Je crois entendre encore", while the same screenshots from each of the 12 segments shown in the beginning reappear.