It begins with a question from Roland Barthes: "Why and how do singers find their emotions in their voices?" To find an answer, Werner Schroeter invited three legendary divas-Anita Cerquetti (whose fame rivaled Callas's when she abandoned the stage in the 1950s at the age of twenty-nine), Martha Mödl, and Rita Gorr-to an abandoned French abbey where they fashion a moving demonstration of art as an alternative to what we call real life rather than as a diversion. The singing is glorious, a joy for anyone who loves opera, but Schroeter is after more than a record of extraordinary human voices. His film is also a complicated reflection on aging, failing powers, madness, love, and remembrance.-Russell Merritt