And Hope to Die Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

And Hope to Die Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 16, 2020

René Clément's "And Hope to Die" a.k.a. "La course du lièvre à travers les champs" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film and exclusive new audio commentary by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

I picked up this film for my library immediately after it arrived on DVD. It was part of StudioCanal’s The Rene Clement Collection, which had a couple of other rare remastered films as well, including The Deadly Trap. I could not wait to see it because it teams up one of my all-time favorite American actors, Robert Ryan, with one of my all-time favorite European actors, Jean-Louis Trintignant. Plus, it is scored by the great maestro Francis Lai, whose soundtracks I have collected for decades.

I viewed the film on the night when it arrived in the States. It turned out to be a very long film, but I remember well that I only realized that it was so when its final credits appeared on my system and I saw the sun peeking through my window.

The film is based on a novel by David Goodis which I am completely unfamiliar with. I don’t know if the novel tells the exact same story the film does, and I don’t know if it actually treats the main characters as the film does. (I will explain what I mean below). Also, in the film nature has a very particular role, but I am unsure if it was shaped up by Clement or the novel. Why is this important? Because the tempo and ambience of the film are actually directedly related to it.

Frenchman Antoine Cardot (Trintignant) enters Canada with a tiny suitcase to start a new life, but immediately after he gets off the train a couple of long-haired gypsies pull out their knives and try to kill him on the spot. Cardot barely manages to get away and then heads to Montreal, assuming that he has parted ways with the gypsies for good. When they track him down on the highway he runs again and at a local park bumps into some shady character trying to evade a pair of goons with guns. The fugitive then dies in his hands, and when Cardot runs away with his money the goons go after him. They prove to be much better trackers than the gypsies and shortly after Cardot ends up on back of their car with a busted lip.

In a secluded villa on the outskirts of Montreal, Cardot is introduced to Charley (Robert Ryan), the goons’ boss, who is finalizing a plan to kidnap a key witness in a mafia trial. Much to everyone’s surprise, the two men click and when eventually Cardot earns Charley’s respect he lets him join the kidnapping operation.

The above description may leave some readers with the impression that And Hope to Die is a very dynamic film with plenty of twists and turns of the type that ‘70s action thrillers are remembered for. Well, it is not that kind of a conventional genre film. It is actually a slow-burn thriller that is primarily interested in the battle of wits between its two big stars, Ryan and Trintignant. There is plenty of action in it, but Clement uses it to reset the individual clashes between the two men and ultimately prove that despite their different backgrounds they have the same survival instincts.

The presence of nature throughout the film is subtle but crucial. It fills the film with serenity that counters the ugly that frequently flourishes when Trintignant’s character confronts the rest of the goons. Because they can’t match his intellect, he often brings out the worst in them. Needless to say, the contrasts that emerge between his clashes with them and their boss are quite fascinating to observe and deconstruct.

The soft and calming soundtrack is another genuine masterpiece from maestro Lai.

And Hope to Die Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.68:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, And Hope to Die arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from the same remaster that StudioCanal used to provided this R2 DVD release in 2013. It is an older remaster that does have some limitations, but overall I think it looks quite good and holds up well on a bigger screen.

The best news is that the remaster is free of annoying digital anomalies. There are a few spots that appear just a tiny bit sharper, but I can assure you that you won't have to worry about distracting elevated sharpness levels, or harshness produced by edge-enhancement. In fact, with a few encoding tweaks this remaster could have looked quite wonderful in high-definition. I still like it because in a lot of wider panoramic shots and especially the darker footage the DVD release produces plenty of flat and smeary spots; here depth and delineation usually range from pleasing to very good. Close-ups in particular can look very, very good. The grading is good. A proper new master should expand a few nuances, but the overall balance is solid. Image stability is very good. There are no distracting debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. (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).

And Hope to Die 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 provide for the main feature.

When I received the DVD release and viewed it, one of the things that kept mothering me a lot was the PAL-pitched soundtrack. Francis Lai's soundtrack suffers a lot from the elevated pitch. On the Blu-ray release the properly pitched audio makes a substantial difference. Also, clarity, depth, and overall stability are very good. My only complaint is this: the subtitles that Kino Lorber keep using for foreign films are still way too small.

And Hope to Die Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for And Hope to Die. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (4 min, 480/60i).

• Commentary - an exclusive new audio commentary by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson.

• Trailers - additional trailers for the following titles from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. Rider on the Rain
  2. The Sicilian Clan
  3. Un flic

And Hope to Die Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is an excellent battle of wits in this film which is wrapped in melancholy that I find quite attractive. The film is long, but it needs to be because it takes time to see how its supposedly very different main protagonists actually have the same survival instincts. I picked up Francis Lai's terrific soundtrack for my collection many years before I could get a decent copy of the film on DVD, and to finally have it on Blu-ray is simply terrific. RECOMMENDED.