One of the most boring “thrillers” of the 1980s is now on DVD. Please, hold your yawns until the end of the review. For a film that supposedly sparked a complete movement, the French cinéma du look of the 1980s, Diva is an excessively boring spy/suspense film that takes forever to get started and never really takes off.

The plot is thin, disconnected stuff; a young guy named Jules is obsessed with an opera singer named Cynthia Hawkins and takes some video of her at a recital; however, he later takes some video of a crime in progress and is eventually sought by both the police and the bad guys. Believe me, the plot sounds more interesting than the film actually is.

The cinéma du look movement was all about noir-style crime plots in fairy tale settings and were not concerned much with any resemblance to realism. While the movement gave birth eventually to more interesting directors and films, Jean-Jacques Beineix’s DIVA is not among them; it was the director’s first film and feels extremely dated; it’s about as interesting to look at for a couple hours as a showcase of medical jewelry.

While some elite connoisseurs of French film may enjoy it, DIVA was essentially wasted time that this reviewer will never get back. Ponderous, boring and generally unpleasant, DIVA is one film I wouldn’t have missed had it never appeared on DVD.