Film

Otello

Name: Otello
Genre: Drama, Music
Released: 1986
Cast: Plácido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Justino Díaz, Petra Malakova, Urbano Barberini

Other titles called Otello: the 1992 film.

Franco Zeffirelli's 1986 film of Verdi's opera, with Plácido Domingo in the title role. It's operatic cinema in the fullest sense—grand, physical, unashamed of its own scale. The camera loves the singers' faces and the costumes, and Verdi's score does what Verdi does best: it makes jealousy sound inevitable and beautiful and terrible. For anyone who loves opera, or who's curious what happens when you film it without apology.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love opera where the drama lives in the voice, and Plácido Domingo's Otello turns a slow poison of suspicion into something you feel in your chest.

Skip it if you find sung drama hard to sit through, since the singing is the story and the pace is set by Verdi rather than by quick cuts or action.

What it asks of you: Settle in for 118 minutes of sung dialogue at opera's own unhurried tempo, with long arias that let rage and dread swell slowly, so bring patience and close attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

La traviata1982

Zeffirelli's earlier opera film, equally sumptuous. If you loved the visual generosity and romantic sweep of Otello, this is the same director letting Verdi's most intimate tragedy bloom on screen.

But It's three hours of people singing about consumption and lost love. If you came for plot momentum, you'll be disappointed.

Rigoletto1993

Pavarotti, Ingvar Wixell, and a Venice that looks like it's drowning in shadow and gold. Another Verdi masterpiece filmed with absolute confidence in opera's power to move you.

But The pacing is operatic, not cinematic. Long stretches where not much happens except the music does everything.

Don Carlo1985

Lorin Maazel conducts Verdi's most ambitious tragedy. The scope is staggering—courts, cathedrals, politics, passion. Visually stunning and emotionally overwhelming in equal measure.

But At over four hours, it demands patience and your full attention. The historical politics can feel distant if you're not engaged.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Otello

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both are about people trapped in narratives they cannot escape. Both are formally ambitious in their own medium. Both say: jealousy and self-deception can turn life into tragedy as surely as any plot.

Charlie Kaufman's collapsing opera about a director building a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse, casting his lovers and exes in it, unable to tell performance from reality. It looks nothing like Otello but it IS Otello: the jealousy, the spiraling certainty in lies, the beautiful tragedy of someone unable to see what's actually in front of them. It's opera without music, which makes it stranger.

But It's abstract, fragmented, and deliberately frustrating. Many people find it pretentious or unwatchable. You have to surrender to it.

Un Ballo in Maschera1980

Verdi's most dramatically tight opera—conspiracy, forbidden love, assassination. Pavarotti and Renata Scotto at their peak, filmed with clarity and intimacy.

But It's a little cramped compared to Otello's visual space. The story moves fast enough that quieter moments disappear.

Macbeth1987

Verdi's grimmest opera, also based on Shakespeare. If you loved the moral darkness of Iago's corruption in Otello, this is Verdi doing witchcraft and blood-guilt without mercy.

But It's genuinely harsh and unrelenting. There's no beauty to soften the ugliness.

Cavalleria rusticana1982

Mascagni's one-act masterpiece—raw, jealous, Sicilian. Less polished than Otello but more intimate. A hour of passion without artifice, almost like opera realism.

But It's stark and brief. If you want grandeur and length, you'll feel shortchanged.

Il Trovatore1988

Verdi's most feverishly dramatic opera—revenge, magic, identity switches. Deliberately preposterous plot that somehow becomes transcendent. A wild ride.

But The plot barely holds together. If you need logic, the gypsy curse and secret babies will infuriate you.