Diva (France, 1981)

I ushered in the New Year sitting up late watching Diva (France, 1981) again after twenty or thirty years. Based on the novel by Daniel Oldier writing under the name Delacorta. It was part of a short series of novels with Serge Gorodish and his protogee Alba as the continuing characters. This is apparently why the young postman Jules is such a passive character although the story revolves around him. There was the moped chase, but other than that he has to be rescued by other characters.
 
Jules has a crush on an opera singer who refuses to put out records. He makes a high quality bootleg tape of her performing. Taiwan isn't part of the International Copyright Convention, so a couple of Taiwanese agents are trying to get their hands on the tape and this gets mixed up with a recording made by prostitute revealing the REAL head of the city's heroin and prostitution rackets.

I saw this in the local art theater when it was released in the US in '82. There were certain moments in it that delighted the audience.

There was the scene of Serge talking about the Zen of buttering bread, the scene where Serge opens a garage door revealing he has a Citroen Traction Avant just like the one he sacrificed moments earlier. When a grumpy old man pulls out his War Veteran card in response to a detective showing his police ID.

What bothered me was Jules in a closed subway car with the motor running on his moped.

Watching it alone on streaming video was a different experience, but was it because I saw it before or because I wasn't sitting in a large audience?