Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

A Pain in the Ass Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 19, 2021

Edouard Molinaro's "A Pain in the Ass" a.k.a. "L'emmerdeur" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include remastered trailer for the film and exclusive new audio commentary by critic Nick Pinkerton. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The assassin

Professional assassin Ralf Milan (Lino Ventura) arrives in Montpelier to take out a target that is expected to testify in a high-profile case. The job has to be done on the day the target is to be transported from the local prison to the local courthouse so that the prosecution case collapses. This is the only time the target will be out in the open, and because Milan is a perfectionist that always delivers the goods, the mafia has asked him to do the job.

Shortly after Milan checks in the fancy hotel across the courthouse and begins assembling his rifle, however, another guest in the adjacent room, Francois Pignon (Jacques Brel), attempts to hang himself when his ex-wife (Caroline Cellier) refuses to see him. Milan notices water coming under the door, calls the bellhop (Nino Castelnuovo), and saves Pignon’s life. Then he bribes the bellhop to keep quiet – and not because he is concerned about the hotel’s reputation, but because he does not want the cops around while he is getting ready to take out his target – and, assuming that Pignon has come to his senses, returns to his room. But the reenergized Pignon threatens to jump to his death and this time demands that Milan phones his ex-wife to let her know about his sacrifice. At first the stunned Milan refuses to deal with Pignon, but after he nearly gets himself killed and brings in a few curious cops awaiting the target’s arrival at the courthouse, he concludes that the best way to get rid of the loon is to take him straight to the clinic of Dr. Fuchs (Jean-Pierre Darras), who is now in a ‘meaningful relationship’ with his ex-wife. However, once the two reach their destination Pignon creates another big mess and the clueless Dr. Fuchs mistakenly injects Miland with a powerful relaxant, assuming that the latter is the neurotic ex-husband of his new partner that needs to calm down as quickly as possible. With time running out and barely able to stand on his feet, Miland vows to finish the job he was hired to do, but getting back to the hotel quickly proves to be the greatest challenge of his career. Meanwhile, completely unaware of the real reason Miland is desperate to get back to the hotel but enormously grateful that he has tried to help him fix his broken marriage, Pignon announces that it is his turn to help.

While they are not thematically related and come from completely different eras, Edouard Molinaro’s A Pain in the Ass and Francis Veber’s The Dinner Game are actually very close relatives because both use the exact same formula to produce a variety of humorous situations -- they force a complete idiot out of his comfort zone and then promptly dispatch him to wreak havoc in the lives of a few supposedly intellectually superior strangers. Because both were directed long before political correctness poisoned the film industry, their sense of humor can be quite savage as well, with Veber’s film in particular occasionally even testing the old norms of decency.

What separates the two films is the manner in which they build up the humiliation activities that produce the laughs. In The Dinner Game, they are entirely staged until the moment the idiot flips the script and serves the intellectual elitists a heavy dose of their own medicine. In A Pain in the Ass, the humiliation activities are part of an unforced mess that eventually evolves into a gigantic mayhem. Also, once the assassin allows the suicidal idiot to have the initiative, the mayhem becomes unfixable.

It is worth pointing out that both films can quite easily be transformed into terrific theater plays. A Pain in the Ass will require slightly more work to adjust a few sequences where the assassin and the idiot leave the hotel, but the intimate nature of the original material seems perfect for an elaborate stage production.

*The two idiots share the same name, Francois Pignon, which should not be too surprising because Veber wrote the original screenplay for Molinaro's film. Also, in 2008 Veber directed a remake of Molinaro's film, which was not well received.

A Pain in the Ass Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, A Pain in the Ass arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a recent 2K master that was completed in France. Unfortunately, the master offers yet another very disappointing digital makeover that gives A Pain in the Ass a brand new and entirely foreign identity.

The bulk of the film boasts excellent delineation and depth, plus image stability is simply terrific. Also, there are no traces of problematic digital adjustments and as a result fluidity is excellent. However, the entire master has been graded with incorrect LUT values that have destroyed the native qualities of the film's original color scheme. Additionally, the poor grading work has destabilized the native dynamic range of various visuals, which is why many of them can reveal very odd digital flatness. You can see examples in screencaptures #11 and 19. (For what it's worth, a recent 4K master that was prepared for Madame Claude reveals exactly the same anomalies). The entire film looks very healthy. There are absolutely no debris, scratches, marks, stains, warped or torn frames. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

A Pain in the Ass Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is outstanding. It is clear, sharp, and free of age-related imperfections. In fact, its basics are so strong that during the action footage/car race it almost feels like the audio mix was done for a modern film. The English translation is very good.

A Pain in the Ass Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - remastered trailer for A Pain in the Ass. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, critic Nick Pinkerton shares plenty of factual information about the careers of director Edouard Molinaro and screenwriter Francis Veber, the production of A Pain in the Ass, its tone and sense of humor, the evolution of French Cinema in the years after the Nouvelle Vague, etc.

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following releases from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. The Sicilian Clan
  2. Razzia sur la chnouf
  3. Touchez Pas au Grisbi
  4. Max and the Junkmen

A Pain in the Ass Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The 2K restoration of A Pain in the Ass would be immediately rejected by anyone that is even remotely familiar with the work of cinematographer Raoul Coutard, which should tell you plenty about how classic films are being restored on the other side of the Atlantic. A Pain in the Ass isn't a small film either. It was, and still is, quite popular, and a lot of people know that it should not look as it does after it was restored. I give the folks at Kino Lorber a lot of credit for making it available in the United States, but the restoration is another predictable misfire.