8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Julien is a student at a French boarding school in Nazi-occupied France. As the winter term begins, three new students, including the reserved Jean Bonnet, are enrolled at the school. Rivals at first, Julien and Jean bond and become friends, but this newly formed friendship is put to the test once a secret is revealed.
Starring: Gaspard Manesse, Raphaël Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carre de Malberg, Philippe Morier-GenoudDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 95% |
War | 15% |
Coming of age | 9% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: LPCM 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Louis Malle's "Au revoir les enfants" (1987) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Curzon Artificial Eye. There are no special features on the disc. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Louis Malle's Au revoir les enfants arrives on Blu-ray courtesy French label Gaumont.
The release is sourced from the same restored master that French label Gaumont used for its domestic release of Au revoir les enfants in 2015. Just to be perfectly clear, this is not the same master that Criterion used for the North American release of the film in 2011. I find the new master to be clearly superior in terms of density and depth; edge definition is also better and on a bigger screen the difference is quite easy to see. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. I believe that some very careful grain management was performed, but it is nothing that you should be concerned about as it is well within what is considered proper and/or responsible. Colors are stable and there are plenty of excellent nuances. I would have preferred to have slightly more prominent ranges of blues and whites, but the current palette works rather well. Image stability is excellent. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The lossless track is very good. The dialog is clean, clear, and always easy to follow. I think that the overall dynamic balance is also very good, but as I typically out in our reviews of older films the dynamic intensity that the original sound design has is pretty modest. Nothing unusual, really; it is just how the film was shot. There are no audio dropouts, distracting background hiss, or digital distortions to report. The English translation is very good.
Unfortunately, there are no bonus features on this release.
I think that Gaumont's recent restored master of Au revoir les enfants is quite good and overall clearly more convincing than the one that Criterion used for the first Blu-ray release of the film in North America in 2011. I have a few minor reservations about the color palette, but I am fine with it and think that the film looks healthier here than it ever has before. However, Curzon/Artificial Eye should have licensed Pierre-Henri Gibert's documentary that appeared on the French release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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