Václav Luks

The year is 1764. For over a year, Josef has been leading a precarious life in Venice. He hopes to become an opera composer. The city, full of talented and already-established composers, seems closed to him. Looking for work as a violinist, he comes into the orbit of a rich young woman. Thanks to her, he gets the opportunity to play at salons. But his real opportunity arises when he becomes the lover of a libertine marquise. She teaches him worldly manners, rids him of signs of a provincial upbringing and introduces him to a hedonistic existence free from religious intolerance. Thus transformed, Josef gets an incan incredible commission: to write an opera for the San Carlo, Europe's largest theatre.

Based on Gluck's masterpiece and performed entirely on location in and around the environs of the Baroque Theatre at the Cesky Krumlov Castle in the Czech Republic; it's an opera production designed specifically for the film with outstanding sets and production values. Countertenor Bejun Mehta sings the role of the torn main character and acts as an artistic advisor, making for an involving and impeccably performed opera.

Platée, a silly and conceited nymph, falls for a fake wedding to Jupiter, king of the gods. This new staging of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Baroque masterpiece is colourful, eccentric, full of wit and free of taboos, yet also surprisingly deep. Louis XV had Platée performed for his son's wedding festivities in 1745. The burlesque raised Rameau’s standing and played a part in his appointment as composer to the court. In 1749, the Paris opera added Platée to its repertoire, notwithstanding the outrage sparked by the libretto.

Platée, a silly and conceited nymph, falls for a fake wedding to Jupiter, king of the gods. This new staging of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Baroque masterpiece is colourful, eccentric, full of wit and free of taboos, yet also surprisingly deep. Filmed 1st june 2025 at Czech National Theatre, Prague