A Woman of Paris Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

A Woman of Paris Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 3, 2025

Charles Chaplin's "A Woman of Paris" (1923) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include new video essay by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance; archival documentary produced by Mathias Ledoux; recent documentary produced by Arnold Lozano; rerelease trailers; and more. Region-A "locked".

A Woman of Paris is an interesting film in Charlie Chaplin’s oeuvre. It was the first film Chaplin made for the newly formed United Artists, and his famous character, the Tramp, was not in it. While it has a few hilarious moments, it is not a comedy. It is a contemporary melodrama, conceived to reveal a completely different side of Chaplin’s genius and impress a very different audience. Had it flopped, it would not have destroyed Chaplin’s career, but it would have provided evidence that his genius had its limitations. While today the consensus amongst critics is that A Woman in Paris is a fine film, when it was released, the general consensus was that it did not match the high quality of Chaplin’s typical work. The majority of people who saw it thought of it as an unnecessary, underwhelming experiment.

The narrative is broken into three acts, with the third, perhaps unsurprisingly, being the shortest. In the first act, fate separates lovers Marie (Edna Purviance) and Jean (Carl Miller) on the night they have arranged to go to Paris and start a new chapter in their lives. Marie then heads to Paris alone, assuming that Jean has not been entirely honest with her, and the two lose contact for a year. In the second act, Marie is seen in a romantic relationship with Pierre (Adolphe Menjou), a notorious bachelor with deep pockets, enjoying a most comfortable lifestyle. However, as time passes, Marie confesses to Pierre that she wants to be a wife and mother, but, much to her displeasure, is made to realize that she is expendable. Soon after, fate intervenes again, and Marie meets Jean, who is still a struggling artist but now lives in Paris with his elderly mother (Lydia Knott). After a series of heartfelt confessions, the two decide to marry, and Marie informs Pierre that she is terminating their relationship. However, Marie overhears Jean assuring his mother that marriage is not on his mind, so that she does not fear dying alone, and the two again drift in opposite directions. In the third act, Marie resumes her previous lifestyle, but while routinely having to endure a much more cynical Pierre and various close ‘friends’ who no longer think the same of her. A heartbroken Jean also gives up on life.

The lukewarm reception of A Woman of Paris is not surprising. However, it must be clarified that it was unavoidable for two reasons. The first has everything to do with the fact that Chaplin had become synonymous with the Tramp, so a Chaplin film without the Tramp was destined to underwhelm. What would have been unclear at the time is just how underwhelmed audiences may be. The second has a lot to do with Purviance’s transformation and the quality of the melodrama that flourishes in A Woman of Paris. Indeed, Purviance plays a very modern woman who is presented with a dilemma that remains relevant today. Is it wiser to listen to the heart and pursue happiness regardless of the sacrifices that may be required, or compromise and settle for a comfortable life entirely devoid of happiness? Chaplin does not place the dilemma at the center of the narrative, so A Woman of Paris does not evolve into an obnoxious moralistic messenger about societal norms and the choices women had to make in the 1920s, but the misery the two lovers endure certainly offers plenty of food for thought, and all of it is incompatible with even the most serious material from his classic comedies.

On this release, A Woman of Paris is presented in two versions. The first utilizes Chaplin's original score for it, which has been fully restored. The second utilizes an alternate score created by composer and conductor Timothy Brock in 2005. This score is based on a selection of Chaplin's unused compotion sketches (from 1951-69) and on music themes found in his 1976 score, newly arranged by Brock and recorded by the Orchestra Citta Aperta in 2010. The first version is approximately 83 minutes long. The second version is approximately 90 minutes long.

A Woman of Paris Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, A Woman of Paris arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following information appears inside the leaflet provided with this release:

"This new 4K restoration of the 1976 rerelease version of the film -- undertaken by MK2 and Cineteca di Bologna, in association with Roy Export S.A.S., as part of the Chaplin project -- was created from a 35mm full-frame duplicate negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm original magnetic tracks.

Restoration: L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna, Italy."

The overall quality of the restoration and its presentation are very easy to describe as very good. Despite various inherited source limitations that affect declination and depth, all visuals have a stable and convincing organic appearance. In fact, anyone who has seen this Region-B release from a little over a decade ago will be quite surprised by the big uptick in quality, which becomes enormously easy to appreciate on a large screen. (The Region-B release produces a lot of visuals that tend to look fuzzy and flat). There are many stability improvements as well. A lot of transitions are more even and significantly healthier, too. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. However, because of the inherited source limitations mentioned above, you should expect to see some unevenness in grain exposure. Also, there are some areas of the film where the grayscale reveals minor inconsistencies as well. The grays are usually associated with them, but some whites are affected, too. The surface of the visuals is very healthy. All in all, I think that the 4K restoration is a success and A Woman of Paris now looks the best it ever has. (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 Woman of Paris Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release. The first is LPCM 1.0, which is the main track for fully restored Charlie Chaplin score. The second is LPCM 2.0, which is the bonus track for Timothy Brock's more recent alternate score.

I viewed the entire film with Chaplin's restored score. The audio is crisp, sharp, and very stable. If there were any age-related imperfections before Chaplin's score was restored, it is impossible to tell now. The quality of the audio is as good as that of more recent films. Also, think that some of dynamic contrasts are surprisingly effective.

A Woman of Paris Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction - presented here is an archival introduction to A Woman of Paris featuring Charlie Chaplin scholar David Robinson. In English, not subtitled. (6 min).

• Alternate Score - an alternate score created by composer and conductor Timothy Brock in 2005. This score is based on a selection of Chaplin's unused compotion sketches (from 1951-69) and on music themes found in his 1976 score, newly arranged by Brock and recorded by the Orchestra Citta Aperta in 2010.

• "A Serious Drama" - presented here is a video essay about the conception and production of A Woman of Paris, written and narrated by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance in 2024. In English, not subtitled. (23 min).

• Chaplin Today: "A Woman of Paris" - this archival documentary was produced by Mathias Ledoux in 2003. It features clips from interviews with actress Liv Ullmann and director Michael Powell. In English, not subtitled. (27 min).

• Archive Commentary: About "A Woman of Paris" - this recent documentary was produced by Arnold Lozano, managing director of Roy Export S.A.S., in 2022. It utilizes photographs and ephemera from the Charlie Chaplin Archive. In French, with English subtitles. (10 min).

• Roland Totheroh - in this archival program from 1964, Charlie Chaplin biographer Roland Totheroh addresses A Woman of Paris. In English, not subtitled. (5 min).

• Deleted Shots - presented here are various shots from the original 1923 version of A Woman of Paris which Charlie Chaplin removed when he revisited the film in 1976. Restored. Presented with music. (14 min).

• United Artists - on February 5, 1919, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, and Mary Pickfordfounded the distribution company United Artists Corporation. Presented here is rare footage shot the next day at Chaplin Studios, where the group restaged the contract signing, and later at Griffith's studio, where they posed for the press. Silent. (4 min).

• Trailers -
  
  1. Rerelease trailer (1976)
  2. Rerelease trailer (2023)

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Pamela Hutchinson and technical credits.

A Woman of Paris Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While it is true that A Woman of Paris did not meet the expectations of those who went to see it hoping that it would turn out to be yet another brilliant comedy with the Tramp, describing it is a failure is pretty bizarre. Its public reception should not have been the only factor to determine its fate. It is strange that many decades later it was greeted as a masterful film, too. Clearly, it is not one of the great films of its era. I think that A Woman of Paris did exactly what Charlie Chaplin expected from it, which was to demonstrate that he could be just as effective behind the camera while working with a drastically different material. Large parts of A Woman of Paris are very nicely scripted, acted, and directed. It is just that the final product is not as wonderfully polished and effective as Chaplin's classic comedies, some of which work incorporate serious material, too. This recent Blu-ray release introduces a lovely 4K restoration, completed at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Italy. RECOMMENDED.