Carmen
The freest woman in opera — and the man who kills her because he cannot possess her
Seville, outside the cigarette factory. Carmen singles out Don José from all the soldiers and throws him a flower. He is already lost. When Carmen is arrested for a brawl, José lets her escape — and ends up in jail. He gets out, runs to her. She dances for him in the tavern. He must return to barracks. She taunts him: he does not truly love her if he leaves. José stays. He has deserted. There is no going back.
Among the smugglers in the mountains, Carmen reads the cards. Death — first for her, then for him. She does not care: she is not afraid. Then Escamillo arrives, the bullfighter. Carmen falls in love with him. Don José understands it is over. News reaches him that his mother is dying — he goes. When he returns, Carmen has already fallen for another. Outside the bullring, José begs her one last time. Carmen throws to the ground the ring he had given her. He stabs her.
Carmen is no victim: she chooses freedom until the very last second, knowing what it might cost her. Don José is no murderer in the ordinary sense: he is a man who has lost everything — and does not know how to live without her. Bizet takes no one's side. And he is right.