Caballé Beyond the Music

Colour, 35 mm
Spain, 2003, 98 min
Section: Catalan Films

Synopsis

“Music is like vitamins which the blood distributes throughout the entire body,” claims Montserrat Caballé. Her passion for music began at age six when she played old records on her father’s gramophone. After her parents realized that she might become a singer, Caballé went to study in Barcelona. In order to follow her entire artistic career, one would have to visit all the world’s top venues. Her first international engagements brought her to Switzerland and Germany, but the decisive moment came with her smash success in New York. “It goes against physical laws. Montserrat Caballé is a singer whose mastery of her instrument and her ability to understand music goes against nature. No one else has come so close to perfection.” This rich documentary portrait brings together unforgettable roles, and charts her career from her Paris debut in 1966, to the Opening Ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics, and on to a performance with her daughter.
 

About the director

Antonio A. Farré said about the film: “We do not want to limit ourselves to describing the biography of an important singer, but rather illuminate the portrait of a woman who has been able to develop the best in herself through the art of singing. Our approach is more realistic than descriptive. In order to facilitate a connection with the audience, the program will have a melodramatic narrative structure. We integrated archive material and interviews into a film which comes to life as our protagonist reveals her story to us.”
Filmography: Magnolia (1980), El pie (1981), Curva (1981), Iniciativa privada (1986), Razones sentimentales (1995), Inocente, inocente (1997/98), Fernández y familia (1998), Mediterráneo (1999), Casi en directo (2000), Caballé Beyond the Music (Caballé, más allá de la música, 2003).