Germany 2025
Opening August 7, 2025
Directed by: Juliane Sauter
Writing credits: Documentary
Principal actors: Angel Blue, Valerie Eickhoff, Renata Scotto
German director Juliane Sauter chose striking personalities for her documentary Primadonna or Nothing who are fascinating and fun to follow. The trio are sure to whet people’s curiosity about the truly astonishing art form of opera. Any misconceptions and/or misgivings about opera to the uninitiated are suspended while listening to their stories. We travel from the front of house to backstage, attend competitions, view bygone performances, and listen to the trajectory of career progression each one set, with passion and perseverance, for herself. “Not bad, huh?”
The three protagonists are positioned as representatives on the ladder of success. Italian soprano Renata Scotto, the extraordinary singer-actress— “I just wanted to be onstage,” opera director and voice teacher is far from being a diva. In her late eighties, spirited and lightly impish, albeit in slow-motion, Renata is soon to be honored locally. She good naturedly attends rehearsals, lunches with family, and gives her opinions honestly “…excuse me, I do like you.” At a birthday celebration, Renata is heralded for conquering the stages of the world. “You have to sing at La Scala (Milan, Italy), you have to sing at the Met (Metropolitan Opera, NYC, US), otherwise you are not a singer.”
German mezzo-soprano Valerie Eickhoff, on a lower rung, is completing voice studies with Prof. Konrad Jarnot in Düsseldorf and receives advice from Bavarian State Opera’s Tobias Truninger and Canadian soprano Prof. Dr. Edith Wiens. Valerie competes in Voix 2022 in Montréal, Canada. She talks about doing lots of things because she, “…didn’t want to say I didn’t try,” i.e., Valerie pushes herself. Whereas the trailblazing American soprano, Angel Blue, is betwixt, “My dad told me onetime, ‘Don’t you know your voice can take you around the world?’…without him I wouldn’t be singing.” From Paris to Baden-Baden to the Lucerne Festival to Los Angeles, Angel’s on the move and expressing her position. “I’ve been working two decades to get where I am now,” and is “working harder to stay here.” Her return to Los Angeles after fifteen years, “this is home,” is a poignant homecoming. Hard to distract from are comparisons of her to Maria Callas to which Angel easily rejoins, “Ah, I don’t mind facing the Callas of it all.”
The sopranos have the day and win our hearts in Sauter’s intriguing documentary with their honest, heartfelt replies and sharing their dreams. Production values are solid: Sebastian Ganschow’s cinematography, Richard Weigert’s sound design, Bjarne Taurnier’s music, and a shout-out to Tim Plaster’s editing considering the many people, time periods and settings involved. Through their voices and vision audiences can appreciate how intimately opera incorporates singing, dancing, musical flexibility, stagecraft, and high drama. Stretching back centuries, opera is clawing its way into the next eons introducing new directions, composers and stars. For the Primadonna? “To act, to say something, … so I sang, and I sang, everywhere.” 95 minutes (Marinell H.)