Britten: The Turn of the Screw (BBC)

Mark Padmore (Prologue/Quint); Lisa Milne (Governess); Catrin Wyn Davies (Miss Jessel); Diana Montague (Mrs Grose); Nicholas Kirkby Johnson (Miles); Caroline Wise (Flora);

Benjamin Britten's haunting and sinister opera, composed in 1954, is based on the famous novella written by Henry James in 1898. Katie Mitchell's atmospheric and innovative film of the opera returns to the late 19th Century setting of the original story, Fulbeck Hall in Lincolnshire. The ghostly atmosphere of the music is perfectly re-created by clever lighting techniques and faded colours of the costumes. Visual inspiration is from the photographic work of Julia Margaret Cameron, Munch, Strindberg and the early Spiritualists. The result is a world where the boundaries between the living and the dead are chillingly blurred.

Reviews

"What Katie Mitchell has devised is a highly evocative film to go with a performance of The Turn of the Screw. The result is very different from a conventional staging, with the singers, for much of the time, acting out their roles without being seen singing. The performance itself is excellent, with Richard Hickox drawing taut playing from the City of London Sinfonia in support of a first-rate cast." (The Penguin Guide)

"Hickox and his exceptional cast capture beautifully the escalating tension that makes the score so gripping in the theatre." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Mark Padmore is among the best of Quints, vocally and histrionically. Catryn Wyn-Davies is a properly wild and scary Miss Jessel. All in all, this is the version to have." (Gramophone)

"The transference of opera to film can be fraught with difficulty. In worst case scenarios, it can be disastrous. However in the present case, it is a wonderful success." (Musicweb International)

Extra features

Cast gallery and Synopsis.