Farinelli, aka Farinelli: Il Castrato is a 1994 historical drama film from Belgium directed by Gerard Corbiau.
It is a (heavily fictionalized) biopic about the life of Carlo Broschi (Stefano Dionisi), stage name "Farinelli", a famous late Baroque Music era (18th century) Italian castrato (male singer who was castrated as a child so he would retain a high pitched voice, which is impossible after puberty). The film opens with Carlo at the court of King Philip V of Spain. His older brother Riccardo Broschi (Enrico Lo Verso), a composer who is now estranged from his younger brother, tries to approach him, but Carlo blows Riccardo off.
The bulk of the film then plays out in an extended flashback. Carlo and Riccardo are a dual act, with Carlo singing Riccardo's compositions. George Frederic Handel (Jeroen Krabbé) tries to recruit Carlo to work for him, but when Handel refuses to hire Riccardo as well, and insults the brothers, Carlo spits in his face.
Carlo rises to great fame, with Riccardo basically as a hanger-on. The brothers come to London, where a beautiful woman named Alexandra (Elsa Zylberstein) falls in love with Carlo. On his behalf, she steals a composition of Handel's for Carlo to sing. This leads to a confrontation in which Carlo finds out just how he came to be castrated.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – History:
- There was no eclipse in Spain at any time between 1721 and 1740.
- While Farinelli was a member of the Opera of the Nobility, the rival opera company to Handel's Royal Academy of Music, they never had a personal rivalry as depicted in the film (which was likely done to emulate Amadeus). If anything, the portrayal of the relationship between the two resembles that of another Real Life castrato, Senesino, who was in Handel's service as an opera singer in London before the two fell out and become antagonistic to each other.
- Crippling Castration: The Real Life practice in Italy of castrating young boy singers so their voices don't change. Carlo is shocked when he eventually finds out that his brother had it done to him.
- Driven to Suicide: In an early flashback, Carlo as a boy is singing in a choir when a castrato comes out to an upper balcony, naked, hands clutching his mutilated privates. The castrato screams that the boys' voices will be their deaths, then flings himself off the balcony to his own death.
- Flashback Within a Flashback: The bulk of the film is an extended flashback after a How We Got Here opening. Within that, there's a flashback to how Carlo came to be castrated: after their father died young, Riccardo had his younger brother drugged and castrated, so they wouldn't lose the income generated from Carlo's singing ability.
- A Glass in the Hand: Carlo raises a toast to Margaret and asks her to marry him. Margaret laughs...then apologizes for a thoughtless defensive gesture. Then she says she can't marry him because she wants to be faithful to her dead husband. The glass Carlo is holding shatters in his hand.
- Gorgeous Period Dress: It's a movie set in royal courts and the world of opera in the early 18th century, so there are lots of men's frilly shirts, women's elaborate fancy dresses, and powdered wigs.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Georg Friederich Handel is depicted as a menacing antagonist who attempts to split up Carlo and Ricardo, mocking the former for his castration and revealing how he was really castrated when he refuses to join Handel.
- How We Got Here: The opening scene has Carlo, artist in residence at the royal court of Spain, refusing to see his brother. The rest of the movie plays out from there in flashback.
- Incredibly Long Note: Riccardo composes a piece that requires Carlo to hold a note for a full minute. When he does, women in the audience swoon.
- Match Cut: A scene of Riccardo giving a feverish, bedridden Carlo a drink of water is matched with a quick flashback of young Carlo in bed being given a saucer of milk. This is Foreshadowing of how and why Carlo really came to be castrated.
- Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: Handel, who seems to delight in screwing with Carlo, comes to him backstage right before a performance, offers him a job working for King George II while personally insulting him, then notes that Carlo is sweating so much that he's ruining his makeup. Carlo faints moments later, at the start of his performance.
- Pretty Boy: Carlo the androgynous, castrated beauty is very attractive to the ladies. He routinely takes them to bed, only for his brother to finish off the sex act.
- The Reveal: About 2/3 of the way through the movie Riccardo reveals the truth to Handel: he drugged and castrated his own little brother, to preserve his singing voice.
- Spiteful Spit: Handel tries to hire Carlo to work, but for some reason decides to act like a complete jerkass when he does it, calling Riccardo a hack and Carlo a freak. Carlo responds by spitting in Handel's face before walking out.
- Tagline: "Where does the power of his voice stop?" on the French language poster.
- A Threesome Is Hot: The brothers are a sort of tag team for some deeply weird three-way sex. Carlo will get his female fans hot and bothered in bed, but he cannot complete the sex act, so Riccardo jumps in as a relief pitcher.
- The last weird threesome, between the brothers and Alexandra, is portrayed as a moment of emotional closeness for all. Riccardo impregnates Alexandra, and the film ends with Carlo and Alexandra married and Carlo raising the child as his own.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: Carlo sings for King Philip's court during a total eclipse of the sun. Riccardo slits his wrists while the sun is eclipsed. After this Carlo finally forgives his brother.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: A rare male instance of this, as the Countess Mauser, one of Carlo's many female admirers, stuffs a love letter down the front of his pants.
- Vocal Dissonance: The whole reason castrati are created. Carlo, a grown man, sings in an unnaturally high voice because he never experienced puberty (the actor obviously could not sing that high; his singing voice was created by mixing and dubbing a female soprano and a male countertenor).
- Walking the Earth: The film ends with Riccardo leaving music behind and searching "distant lands" for similar sensations.
