I've been meaning to see The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffmann for a while now.
I recommend both of those, particularly The Tales of Hoffmann, which surprised me. (I love the opera, so I was very dubious about any film translation, but this one takes an already fantastical story and punches up all the supernatural elements into pure surrealism: all the guests at Spalanzani's are dolls and marionettes; the courtesan Giulietta steals reflections and shadows for the Devil; the soprano Antonia not only sings herself to death, but dies in an artistic inferno of applause; everything is so artificial it achieves its own hyper-reality. It's wonderful.) A Matter of Life and Death, however, is the first film by the Archers that I haven't wanted to write an essay about afterward. I'm not sure it should be the one you start with.
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I recommend both of those, particularly The Tales of Hoffmann, which surprised me. (I love the opera, so I was very dubious about any film translation, but this one takes an already fantastical story and punches up all the supernatural elements into pure surrealism: all the guests at Spalanzani's are dolls and marionettes; the courtesan Giulietta steals reflections and shadows for the Devil; the soprano Antonia not only sings herself to death, but dies in an artistic inferno of applause; everything is so artificial it achieves its own hyper-reality. It's wonderful.) A Matter of Life and Death, however, is the first film by the Archers that I haven't wanted to write an essay about afterward. I'm not sure it should be the one you start with.