The film stars soprano Angela Gheorghiu, tenor Roberto Alagna, and baritone Ruggero Raimondi, who mime their parts, sung in Italian.

Tosca agrees to submit to Scarpia's advances, if he spares Cavaradossi's life in a mock execution and provides her with a safe-conduct to allow her and her lover to escape Rome.

[11] John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune suggested "You would be better off investing in the worthy EMI recording that serves as the soundtrack, or the home video of the 1992 Malfitano-Domingo production.

"[12] However, the opera critic Edward Greenfield, writing in 2003 in the classical music review magazine Gramophone, stated: "I cannot think of a film of Tosca quite as compelling as this.

"[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on eighteen critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.