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The real clashes and combines with the surreal in this enthralling adaptation of Offenbach’s opera. Gothic writer Hoffmann (Robert Rounseville) recounts his three ill-fated romances: the illusion of love in ‘The Tale of Olympia’ (Moira Shearer), the loss of self in ‘The Tale of Giuletta’ (Ludmilla Tchérina), and the inability to manipulate destiny in ‘The Tale of Antonia’ (Ann Ayars). Taking the artistic vision of The Red Shoes 1948 to another level, and again uniting exquisite talents from multiple disciplines, the Archers push the idea of the “composed film” to the extreme by filming to a pre-recorded music track. Their operatic film enthusiastically embraces flamboyance and excess, and is replete with technical innovation; bold in its conceptualisation of colours, costumes and design, and hauntingly poignant in tone. Glittering, grotesque, horrifying, and romantic in all its gravitas. The jury at the Cannes Film Festival gifted the film a Special Award for the transposition of a musical work into a film.

The Tales of Hoffmann will screen from an imported 35mm print.