Using archive footage, Sergei Loznitsa revisits the Opéra de Paris’ gala evenings during the 1950s and ’60s. Between prestige and protocol, these events gathered the crème de la crème of the French and international elite, while crowds of ordinary people assembled to watch the spectacle from afar.

A remarkable feat of archival excavation from Sergei Loznitsa, this sublimely edited short features a host of cinematic—and actual—royalty attending a gala at the Opéra de Paris. Culminating with a performance by Maria Callas, A Night at the Opera is a bejewelled monument to high society rituals.