The Greek Orpheus-Eurydice myth is repurposed into a rollicking and plaintive musical in Paolo Gep Cucco and Davide Livermore’s The Opera! Orpheus (Valentino Buzza) sets out to take back his lover (Mariam Battistelli) from the clutches of the underworld. There’s Hotel Hades that assumes a central role and the ferrying by Charon (Vincent Cassel seemingly having a blast) as the linking mode. Orpheus is more confused and desperate than grieving the untimely loss of his beloved. He seeks reunion as well as answers. His pursuit of her spills across a skidding through varying genres and templates.

The film’s design is intently swashbuckling and fantastical. Worlds of myth and movies and musicals collide and coalesce into a dreamy, occasionally stunning hybrid. To orchestrate them convincingly demands a high degree of conviction and ease with style and sass. It’s not easy to pull it off without seeming labored in certain places.