Who loves whom in Così fan tutte, Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s cruelly comic reflection on desire, fidelity and betrayal? Or have the confusions to which the main characters subject one another ensured that in spite of the heartfelt love duets and superficially fleetfooted comedy nothing will work any longer and that a sense of emotional erosion has replaced true feelings? Così fan tutte is a timeless work full of questions that affect us all. The Academy Award-winning director Michael Haneke once said that he was merely being precise and did not want to distort reality. In only his second opera production after Don Giovanni in 2006, he presents what ARTE described as a “disillusioned vision of love in an ice-cold, realistic interpretation”.
Direction
Haneke's clinical staging strips away opera's usual warmth
Production
Ice-cold minimalism that mirrors emotional erosion
Acting
Singers who can act Haneke's psychological cruelty
Director
Hannes Rossacher
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Haneke's only other opera was Don Giovanni — he clearly enjoys staging men who test women's fidelity.
The title translates to 'All Women Do It' — Haneke's staging asks whether the men are any better, or simply more smug about their cruelty.
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