8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A captured French Resistance fighter during WWII engineers a daunting escape from a Nazi prison in France.
Starring: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod, Jacques ErtaudForeign | 100% |
Drama | 99% |
War | 9% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
French: LPCM 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (A, C untested)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Robert Bresson's "A Man Escaped" (1956) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon/Artificial Eye. The only bonus feature on the disc is Pierre-Henri Gilbert's documentary "The Essence of Forms". In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
The prisoner
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon/Artificial Eye.
The release is sourced from Gaumont's 2K remaster of the film which both the French label and Criterion worked with for their respective Blu-ray releases. Common logic dictates that all three releases should look identical, but they don't. The French release is the most problematic one because it conveys a number of encoding issues, with the chroma noise and macroblocking being the two most damaging ones. Criterion's release is the best looking of the three because it eliminates the chroma noise and also has some adjustments that improve the overall gamma balance. This release also eliminates the chroma noise, but does not have the gamma adjustments. As a result, some of the black and gray nuances appear slightly elevated and in certain areas flatten the image a bit. On the other hand, I think that the remaster that is offered for licensing actually has some issues as well because even on the Criterion release there are sporadic light artifact-like effects that pop up during footage from the man's cell that appear to have been introduced by specific digital work. It is difficult for me to tell what their exact nature is, but from what I have seen on all three releases I can conclude that they are a byproduct of optimizations. Detail and clarity range from good to very good, but I think thatl both could have been more consistent. Image stability is very good. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The film does not have a conventional music score. Instead, it utilizes a variety of organic sounds and noises and as a result dynamic intensity is limited. Clarity, separation, and balance are very good. There are no stability issues to report either.
If A Man Escaped was restored more recently, I think that the end result would have turned out to be better than the existing 2K remaster that Gaumont has available for licensing. It is not disappointing, but I see some weak spots on it that could have been avoided. If you reside in a Region-B territory and do not yet have the film in your collection, I think that you should plan to purchase Curzon/Artificial Eye's upcoming release. It offers a better technical presentation than the Region-Free release that Gaumont produced a few years ago. RECOMMENDED.
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