Meeting Venus

Based on a play co-written by director Istvan Szabo (Mephisto, Sunshine), “Meeting Venus” is set among the elite European opera community. Zoltan Szanto (Niels Arestrup) is a Hungarian conductor hired to direct a daring new interpretation of the Wagner masterpiece “Tannhauser”. Szanto experiences the stigma of being from the East from the moment he arrives in Paris - the Cold War it seems, still rages in officialdom. The film tracks the problems that Szanto encounters trying to conduct an opera with a crew from a dozen countries, each person with idiosyncratic cultural requirements. Complications ensue as cast members press their union demands upon Szanto, who tries to smooth rehearsals with excessive diplomacy. Additional pressures from television crews, financial backers and nervous patrons throw the course of the production into chaos. Despite the personal and creative differences between Szanto and his star attraction - famous Swedish soprano Karin Anderson - the two form a romantic entanglement. Filmed in Budapest, “Meeting Venus” is a comedy that satirises the opera world and the notion of a united Europe. Kiri Te Kanawa provides the singing voice for actress Glenn Close.