Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, a Philadelphia-born African-American opera singer known for her only film role in the 1981 French film DIVA, passed away February 2, 2024, at the age of 75 of cancer, in Lexington, Kentucky; she is survived by a daughter and a sister:
https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/wil ... 40206.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmenia_Fernandez
Jean-Jacques Beineix's stylish thriller DIVA (co-written by Belgian comics writer Jean Van Hamme) became an arthouse hit when released in the U.S. and developed a "cult film" following for a number of years-- though it's largely forgotten today.
Beineix-- along with Luc Besson and Leos Carax-- veered away from the straightforward productions of the '70s with a "style-over-substance" approach to filmmaking dubbed Cinéma du look that paralleled '80s productions in the U.S. like Coppola's film RUMBLE FISH and the TV series MIAMI VICE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cin%C3%A9ma_du_look
In DIVA, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez plays Cynthia Hawkins, an American opera singer whose refusal to make recordings drives Jules, an obsessed young fan, to secretly tape a performance then slip backstage and steal the white gown she wore while performing.
After having done this, Jules gets a second recording slipped in his bag that makes him the target of not only two Taiwanese men who want the valuable bootleg he recorded-- but the police and two hitmen (one played by familiar character actor Dominique Pinon in his debut) who have to retrieve that incriminating second tape:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diva_(1981_film)
Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, performing the aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from Alfredo Catalani's opera La Wally in DIVA:
R.I.P.
https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/wil ... 40206.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmenia_Fernandez
Jean-Jacques Beineix's stylish thriller DIVA (co-written by Belgian comics writer Jean Van Hamme) became an arthouse hit when released in the U.S. and developed a "cult film" following for a number of years-- though it's largely forgotten today.
Beineix-- along with Luc Besson and Leos Carax-- veered away from the straightforward productions of the '70s with a "style-over-substance" approach to filmmaking dubbed Cinéma du look that paralleled '80s productions in the U.S. like Coppola's film RUMBLE FISH and the TV series MIAMI VICE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cin%C3%A9ma_du_look
In DIVA, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez plays Cynthia Hawkins, an American opera singer whose refusal to make recordings drives Jules, an obsessed young fan, to secretly tape a performance then slip backstage and steal the white gown she wore while performing.
After having done this, Jules gets a second recording slipped in his bag that makes him the target of not only two Taiwanese men who want the valuable bootleg he recorded-- but the police and two hitmen (one played by familiar character actor Dominique Pinon in his debut) who have to retrieve that incriminating second tape:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diva_(1981_film)
Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, performing the aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from Alfredo Catalani's opera La Wally in DIVA:
R.I.P.
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