The Tales of Hoffmann 1951

This a film version of the opera "The Tales of Hoffmann", however it is NOT just a film of a staged performance. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (and the rest of "The Archers") work their usual magic here. The opera dramatises the three great romances in the life of the poet-hero presented in a series of flashbacks. Hoffmanns tales depict the struggle between human love and the artists dedication to his work. Hoffmann loses each of the women he loves but gains instead poetic inspiration -- the ability to transform painful experiences into art.