Though described as Millepied's take on Bizet's opera of the same name,[4][5] it is "a complete re-imagining" that ignores the opera's plot and setting; all that remains are "selected lyrics" from the opera's libretto sung in the original French by a choir as background to one scene between the two leads.[6] The film features an original score composed by Nicholas Britell with songs written and composed by Brittell, Taura Stinson, Julieta Venegas and Curry.[7]
In May 2017, Benjamin Millepied was set to make his feature film directorial debut with the film version of Carmen for Chapter 2, originally conceived as "a modern-day reimagining of one of the world's most celebrated operas".[4] Once completed, Millepied recognized his film was less an adaptation than "a version of Bizet's tragedy from a parallel universe".[8]Loïc Barrère [fr] and Millepied will write the script. In May 2019, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film for North and Latin America, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the CIS and the Middle East, with TF1 Studio selling remaining territories and Nilo Cruz writing the script.[9] In November 2020, Alexander Dinelaris Jr. was revealed to have co-written the script with Millepied and Loïc Barrère.[10]
The film was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on 11 July 2023.[16]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of 98 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Benjamin Millepied reinvents Prosper Mérimée's tragic novella as a dance extravaganza full of sound and fury signifying a hollow emotional core, although the ravishing style is a treat onto itself."[17]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[18]
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