Director: Benjamin Millepied
Screenplay: Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Loïc Barrère and Benjamin Millepied
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Paul Mescal and Rossy de Palma
Country: United States
Running Time: 117 min
Year: 2022
BBFC Certificate: 15
Inspired by the Georges Bizet opera of the same name, Benjamin Millepied’s Carmen is an interesting film. It’s the feature debut of Millepied, who’s well-known for being a dancer and choreographer, most famously working on Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan as both the choreographer and in a small starring role. It stars Paul Mescal, who’s fresh from his Oscar-nominated performance in Aftersun and Melissa Barrera, who leads the recent Scream revival films as Sam Carpenter. With all of these elements in place, I was expecting Carmen to be another win for all involved, but despite some creative set-pieces, pretty visuals and interesting musical numbers, unfortunately, Carmen leaves a lot to be desired.
After witnessing her mother shot to death, Carmen (Melissa Barrera) attempts to flee her home in Mexico while Aiden, a former veteran and border patrol guard saves her life by killing his co-worker who attempts to murder her for crossing the border into the United States. This results in the pair going on the run and falling in love with each other. The film follows the typical couple-on-the-run tropes, but the main issue with the execution is how little chemistry the two leads have. Mescal and Barrera have shown themselves to be fantastic performers in films prior, with Mescal giving one of my favourite performances of the decade in the previously mentioned Aftersun. It’s a shame that I never truly felt connected to the couple, as they form a bond and fall in love over the course of the runtime, because their relationship never feels true or genuine, despite the film’s insistence on saying it is.
There’s some really gorgeous visuals, with cinematographer Jörg Widmer really saving some of the more bland aspects with breathtaking vistas, sensational lighting and making the big musical sequences in the film shine. Speaking of the musical sequences, they range from understated and forgettable, to grandiose and bombastic. While none of the musical numbers are bad, they do feel a little out of place at times as there’s little set-up to them and they tend to come out of nowhere, however, Mescal and Barrera are talented vocalists and hold their own through these sequences, as do the other actors who sing.
If the relationship between Carmen and Aiden felt a little more genuine and there was more time to make them falling in love feel earned, I think I would have enjoyed the film more. With a runtime that almost reaches two hours, it shocked me when I noticed there’s not really a lot that occurs in that space, with a lot of the runtime feeling a little padded out with scenes that feel a little aimless, and spectacle for the sake of it which is really unfortunate.
Carmen will work best for those who enjoy films with less of a narrative focus, and more of an emphasis on spectacle, musical sequences and stunning visuals. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and some of my favourite films favour style over substance, but Carmen didn’t quite check the boxes I was hoping for. It’s well-acted, looks great and has mostly solid musical numbers, but never wows in the way it’s hoping for, unfortunately. Still, it’s something I can completely see audiences resonating with Carmen more than I did.
Carmen hits UK cinemas from June 2nd via Dazzler Media.
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