6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Two teenage friends conspire to find out how much their youthful sensuality can disrupt one of their households, headed by a dentist and his mentally-ill wife.
Starring: Gabriele Ferzetti, Ornella Muti, Eleonora Giorgi, Ninetto Davoli, Valentina CorteseForeign | 100% |
Drama | 80% |
Erotic | 61% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
If you’re looking for some quick and easy film based amusement, enter the term “weird movie credits” in your personal Google machine and then peruse the results. There are a number of delightful offerings in store, but unfortunately one of them is not “finger sync specialist”, a “below the line” credit which I am increasingly convinced needs to become part of the cinematic landscape. As I’ve mentioned now in two relatively recent previous reviews (Remember , Heartless), there is an almost shocking display of carelessness on the part of some actors when they’re called upon to pretend to play the piano, with their hand movements having absolutely nothing to do with the music supposedly being created by them. It can be positively humorous for those who do play the piano, or at least have enough musicality to realize something is a bit off when the soundtrack is full of rapid arpeggiated high frequencies and the actor’s hands plod up and down as near solid units, with absolutely no finger movement, in the piano’s lower ranges, no less. The fact that some curmudgeons (ahem) have the time to think about issues like this is perhaps indicative of certain narrative deficits in Appassionata, a film which features a once celebrated concert pianist now on the verge of a nervous breakdown (if not there already), and a film which (not to state the obvious) takes its title from one of the most famous pieces in piano literature, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57. The whole piano subtext (or perhaps more appropriately, counterpoint) plays out against a fairly lurid story of a dentist named Emilio Rutelli (Gabriele Ferzetti) whose supposed mid-life crisis is either exacerbated, perpetuated or outright caused by the sexual aggression of one of the comely friends of his teenaged daughter. It’s a patently uncomfortable premise, one which co-writer and director Gian Luigi Calderone makes even more uncomfortable by introducing elements of incest, not to mention the psychological unraveling of Emilio’s wife Elisa (Valentina Cortese), the aforementioned erstwhile concert pianist. Appassionata is in some ways the very definition of a European Art Film, but it has a rather tawdry and even smarmy aspect that will make it an acquired taste for many.
Appassionata is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 (though a glance at the screenshots will show this is a somewhat "unusual" 1.85:1 in that it's slightly windowboxed). There's a bit of image instability on display during the opening credits, an affliction which recurs a few times later in the presentation. The overall appearance of this transfer is on the soft side, and there are a certain moments where things get even softer for a while, leading at times to an almost Impressionistic ambience (see screenshot 13). The palette looks very healthy, though, and the general saturation of the transfer is one of its strongest assets. That said, there are a couple of isolated scenes, especially one with Emilio in a bright red sweater on a couch, where things look a bit pushed and/or oversaturated. In fact, there are some kind of odd issues with that sweater and other very colorful elements where edges of objects seem to bleed into the surrounding backgrounds. Watch, for example, the neckline or cuffs of the sweater as the camera pans around Emilio as he lies on the couch. This is part of what seems to be a somewhat digital look to this transfer, where it seems like some kind of filtering may have been applied, something that adds to the overall softness. While there is grain in this presentation, it's relatively light looking. Some of the lighting choices tend to limit detail and fine detail, but in the bright environment of the dental office, detail pops more convincingly, especially in some of the extreme close-ups. There's very little of any age related damage.
Appassionata features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono tracks in both the original Italian and an English dub. As is my tradition, I'm recommending the original language track, though it, like the English, has occasional sync issues due to the fact that like most Italian films of its era it was post-looped. There's a boxiness to both language presentations here, something that especially noticeable when underscore appears. In fact, toggling between the two spoken language tracks and the isolated score track is an eye (and/or ear) opener, with the isolated track offering a much more full sounding accounting of the music.
This is the rare Twilight Time release without at least a few bonus features. The only supplement is:
I'm tempted to describe Appassionata as Lolita had it been directed by someone like Erroll Morris (with maybe someone like Douglas Sirk stepping in to handle the wife material), but that doesn't adequately account for the film's weird "combo platter" of unsettling sexual content and roiling psychological dysfunctions. While performances are very good, the film's sanguine approach toward such provocative material is odd, to say the least. Technical merits are good to very good for those considering a purchase.
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