7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, William ShimellDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 62% |
Romance | 20% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Winner of Oscar Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Michael Haneke's "Amour" (2012) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; video introduction by French writer and critic Philippe Rouyer; making of featurette; and a video interview with Jean-Louis Trintignant. In French, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
The couple
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michael Haneke's Amour arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.
Shot with the Arri Alexa camera, Amour looks notably crisp and clean. Rather large portions of the film take place inside Georges and Anne's apartment where light is often subdued, but depth and clarity are consistently pleasing. Where light is in abundance, select close-ups look like digital photographs. Color reproduction is also impressive - there is a wide range of very natural cool and cold colors. Light grays, blues, and browns often fill up the screen. Contrast is stable. There are no traces of problematic lab corrections. There are no serious compression anomalies to report in this review either. There is one sequence, very early into the film, immediately after Georges and Anne return from the concert, where I noticed some extremely light banding, but more than likely its presence will be missed by casual viewers. To sum it all up, this an excellent presentation of Amour, which I am convinced will please even the most demanding amongst its fans. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Artificial Eye have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature. This means that they cannot be turned off while viewing the film.
Amour does not have a prominent music score. In fact, there are only a few sequences where classical music is heard (either CD recordings or live piano performances). Depth and clarity, however, are outstanding. The dialog is also exceptionally crisp, clear, stable, and easy to follow. Also, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review. The English translation is outstanding.
Michael Haneke's Amour is the most honest, most brutal yet genuinely uplifting film about love that I have ever seen. I think it is fair to say that it is also Haneke's best film to date. If you are an English-speaker and reside in a Region-B country, I urge to consider adding Amour to your collection. And if you reside in North America, let's hope that you will be able to purchase a local Blu-ray release soon. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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