As Good As It Gets

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is what grand opera is all about. Okay this production is not absolutely perfect, the sets apart from Dido's final scene are in general dark and drab, the costumes particularly Domingo's over-sized helmet and the braids for the female chorus are generally tacky and the staging particularly with such large numbers of people is stodgy. However, I can forgive these when the music, performed by the orchestra and conducted brilliantly with passion oozing right from the first note, is as magnificent as it is. Although I didn't think much of the costumes and sets and the picture quality was occasionally hazy too, the sound quality is very good. The performances however are exceptional, Jessye Norman and Tatiana Troyanos are simply spellbinding. Placido Domingo's Aneas is cruelly taxing, but his beautiful tone, strong acting and musicality is still intact. Allan Monk and Paul Plishka are also very impressive. In conclusion, a fine if flawed production. 8/10 Bethany Cox