A Woman's Life Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

A Woman's Life Blu-ray Movie Review

Unhappily Ever After?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 23, 2018

Perhaps somewhat incredibly, the IMDb lists well over two hundred entries that are based at least in part on something written by French icon Guy de Maupassant. Some of these offerings go back to the dawn of the silent era, which is perhaps one indication of just how long de Maupassant’s writing has been so highly prized, but in the sound era, a number of high profile films have been based on the writing of de Maupassant, including Le Plaisir (note that the link points to a British release), Black Sabbath, Diary of a Madman, and Masculin Féminin . The almost absurd variety of subjects in just those few titles may give some hint as to the broad array of content to be found in de Maupassant’s voluminous output, but A Woman’s Life eschews any horror leanings, unless one subscribes to the understandable thesis that even being a female in the early 19th century could be something intrinsically horrifying.

There’s a very interesting stylistic conceit on display throughout A Woman’s Life, one that verges on something akin to montage theory, with snippets offered instead of fully formed sequences. One might assume that would give the film a kind of patchwork quality, but rather surprisingly, there’s an organically unfolding story of Jeanne du Perthuis des Vauds (Judith Chemla), where a woman born to at least some privilege is forced by the vagaries of life to realize that happily ever afters are perhaps only found in fairy tales. The film begins with a brief vignette showing Jeanne working with her father, a baron named Simon-Jacques (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), in the family garden, but it’s in seemingly tangential details, like how dirty the bottom of Jeanne’s long dress gets, that the film finds its rather distinctive voice.

While it’s simply assumed that the family’s marital choice for Jeanne, Julien de Lamare (Swann Arlaud), is a “given”, perhaps interestingly de Maupassant’s tale has Jeanne actually initially seeming to think that happily ever after will in fact apply to her, though once again through a series of near montage like moments, director and co-writer Stéphane Brizé quickly documents the dissolution of Jeanne’s idealism as she becomes aware of Julien's shortcomings. By the time the full measure of Julien's duplicity is revealed, A Woman's Life has begun to take on certain elements of melodrama, but it's to Brizé's credit that things never really feel divorced from a quite palpable realism.

The melodramatic aspects arguably only increase as the story continues, with some shocking deaths (which won’t be spoiled here) among other plot elements that could have raised things to hyperbolic levels that de Maupassant’s more intimate intent may not have supported. But the ambience here is resolutely accurate feeling in terms of emotion, even if Brizé’s stylistic proclivities tend to try to have their cake and eat it, too, with a kind of modern sensibility in terms of narrative structure colliding a bit with things like the deliberately “old school” Academy Ratio in which the film was shot.

While the film is obviously based on de Maupassant, in a way it actually reminded me quite a bit of some of the works of Thomas Hardy, especially with regard to the connection between the people and the countryside. There are a lot of images here featuring people walking through forests or by the seaside, as if to suggest that a constant yearning to get somewhere (happily ever after?) may at least distract from the challenges of the trip itself.

A Woman's Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Woman's Life is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Shot on good old fashioned film and finished at a 2K DI (according to the IMDb), A Woman's Life is a rather interesting "watch" that tends to vary between gorgeously lit sunny environments and, as things devolve, stormier, grayer location work where colors are intentionally muted. Detail levels remain quite high throughout the presentation, but an understandable tendency to offer natural lighting sources (or what appear to be natural lighting sources) can minimally diminish fine detail levels at times. The grain field looks completely natural and resolves without any issues whatsoever.

A Woman's Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Woman's Life features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes in the original French (with optional English subtitles). The surround mix tends to derive most of its energy from some of the outdoor material, where crashing waves or fluttering breezes fill the side and rear channels with an agreeable spill of sound. Olivier Baumont's kind of pastiche laden score also spreads a good deal more spaciously in the surround mix. Otherwise, though, this "talky" drama (with quite a bit of narration or voiceover) tends to be anchored front and center quite a bit of the time. Fidelity is fine throughout, with no problems with regard to distortion or dropouts or the like.

A Woman's Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• From the Novel to the Film: An Interview with Stéphane Brizé (HD; 27:00) is a really interesting discussion with the writer and director, who talks about his long fascination with de Maupassant's story and how different elements of the tale provided challenges in the adaptive process.


• Making A Woman's Life (HD; 18:55) offers two more interesting interviews, with cinematographer Antoine Héberlé and sound mixer and engineer Pascal James.


• Stills Gallery (HD; 00:52)


• Original Trailer (HD; 1:37)

Additionally, Arrow has provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

A Woman's Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's an intrinsic sadness to much of A Woman's Life, but Brizé has fashioned a rather remarkable document of one woman's life which may or may not be representative of a larger whole. The film beautifully recreates its time(s) and place(s), and features a stunning lead performance from Judith Chemla. Technical merits are first rate, and A Woman's Life comes Highly recommended.