"Actor: Angela Luce"

• The Decameron (DVD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (05/12/2011) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first of Pasolini’s colourful, entertaining and highly erotic Trilogy of Life films, The Decameron tells ten stories based on fourteenth-century originals. Full of bawdy, earthy spirit, and presented in a high-definition restoration, the film romps through its tales of sex and death – of lusty nuns and priests, cuckolded husbands, murdered lovers and grave-robbers – with five of the stories linked by the character of an intriguing artist, played by Pasolini himself.

• Donizetti: L'Elisir D'Amore (The Elixir of Love) | DVD | (11/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's hard to think of a couple better suited to play the romantic leads in Donizetti's comedy L'Elisir d'amore than husband-and-wife team Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. Both are charming on stage, and both have voices to die for: Gheorghiu's dark liquid tones are particularly spine-tingling, and her coloratura abilities awe-inspiring, and though Alagna has mainly concentrated on the more spinto (powerful) roles of the tenor repertoire, in 1996 when this live production was recorded his voice was just a little fresher and lighter and thus perfect for the bel canto gracefulness of Donizetti's writing. His performance of "Una furtiva lagrima", for example, is meltingly sung and free from all temptation to overplay the high notes. Frank Dunlop's 1920s-set production doesn't quite produce the belly laughs some stagings manage (in Dulcamara's patter song, for example), but has a certain small-town wistful charm nonetheless. The orchestral accompaniment under Donizetti expert Evelino Pidò is spot on, and never falls into the banal "oom-pah" trap that such simple writing can often lead to. Overall, it's a production of great charm. On the DVD: L'Elisir d'amore comes to disc with a 52-minute film on the history of the opera and its recording, with contributions from Alagna and Gheorghiu, and subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese. The Lyon opera house is particularly well set up for video recording, and Brian Large does a sophisticated job of capturing a live performance: it's hard to believe at some points that the cameras aren't actually on stage in the middle of the action. Just occasionally this leads to the singers not knowing where to look and seeming a trifle lost, but generally the performances work superbly well on the small screen. --Warwick Thomson

• The Decameron | DVD | (07/05/2001) from £12.08   |  Saving you £7.91 (65.48%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first of Pasolini's colourful and highly erotic Trilogy of Life films based on famous story circles (to be followed by 'The Canterbury Tales' and 'Arabian Nights') 'The Decameron' contains ten stories based on the fourteenth century works of Giovanni Boccaccio. Capturing the bawdy earthy spirit of the original the film romps through its tales of sex and death - of lusty nuns and priests cuckolded husbands murdered lovers and grave-robbers with five of the stories linked by an artist 'Giotto's pupil' played by Pasolini himself.

• L'Amore Molesto | DVD | (28/05/2007) from £9.43   |  Saving you £-4.44 (-89.00%)   |  RRP £4.99

  After Delia's mother's unexpected death Delia travels back home for the funeral. While there she tries to piece together her mother's recent life inadvertently opening the door to childhood memories that shaped her families history.