док. фильм Жертвы и соблазнители, Судьба кастратов С Чечилией Бартоли

The film features many opulent, dramatic re-enactments with actors in period costumes and evocating settings such as Baroque theaters or dingy Neapolitan workshops where young boys were robbed of their masculinity. These scenes alternate with informative comments on medical, historical and sociological aspects of the catrato phenomenon. Bartoli follows the trail of these unique singers, who were idolized as pop stars of the Baroque. She conveys an idea of the emotional and often sexual agitation provoked by them when they hurled their breathtakingly complex coloraturas into the audience. Ambiguous creatures, the castrati had voices as powerful as a man's, as high as a woman's and as innocent as a child's. A must-see documentary.

Picture: © Stefan Schneider