Ann Patchett’s “Bel Canto” Now an Operatic Movie
In Italian, “bel canto” means “beautiful singing.” Readers of Ann Patchett’s 2001 novel, Bel Canto (Harper Perennial) could only imagine the music that is so crucial to its plot. No longer. The romantic thriller now has an operatic soundtrack of classic arias. The new movie version, in wide release Sept. 14, stars Julianne Moore as world-renowned opera singer Roxane Coss, with a voice supplied by world-renowned opera singer Renee Fleming. And what an operatic plot it is. A powerful Japanese industrialist has been invited to a birthday celebration in an unnamed South American country. Because the country’s government wants him to build a large manufacturing plant there, and because he is a lover of opera, he has been lured to the…