7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A story of two French lovers, Zorg and Betty, who fall into a deeply erotic and all-encompassing relationship.
Starring: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, Gérard Darmon, Consuelo de Haviland, Clémentine CélariéForeign | 100% |
Drama | 82% |
Romance | 22% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080/50i
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
French director Jean-Jacques Beineix's "37°2 le matin" a.k.a "Betty Blue" (1986) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Australian distributors Umbrella Entertainment. Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release. In French, with imposed yellow English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Betty
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080/50i transfer, Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Australian distributors Umbrella Entertainment.
This interlaced high-definition transfer is far more preferable than the one Cinema Libre used for their Blu-ray release of Betty Blue in the U.S. While it is far from flawless, it does not have that very distracting extremely smooth TrueMotion-esque filtering that has been applied to the U.S. high-definition transfer.
Generally speaking, detail is quite good, while clarity, particularly during the daylight sequences, is dramatically improved (when one compares this Theatrical Version of the film to the Director's Cut, which Australian distributors Madman released on SDVD quite some time ago). Edge-enhancement is never a serious issue of concern. There are no traces of severe degraining either (see screencapture #19). However, a few artifacts pop up here and there. Some light motion judder is also visible from time to time Lastly, there are no large cuts, debris, or damage marks to report in this review. All in all, if interested in adding the Theatrical Version of Betty Blue to your collection, I strongly suggest that you consider Umbrella Entertainment's release, not Cinema Libre's release. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. However, the high-definition transfer it uses is encoded in 1080/50i. Therefore, you will only be able to play it in North America if you have a player that can convert 1080/50i to 1080/60i. Because 1080/50i is not a standard that is supported in North America, the disc will be marked in our database as Region-B "locked").
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, Umbrella Entertainment have provided imposed yellow English subtitles for the main feature.
Like the U.S. release, this Australian release also comes only with a modest lossy track. As far as I am concerned this is disappointing news because Betty Blue has arguably one of the best soundtracks ever done for a French production. This being said, there are no serious technical issues to report in this review. The dialog is crisp, stable, and clean. The English translation is good.
Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.
It took quite a long time for the Director's Cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue to appear on DVD in the U.S. Years before Sony Pictures released it, I imported the Australian DVD release by Madman, which I still have in my library. I have a feeling that we will likely go through the same cycle again, this time waiting for a Blu-ray release. Let's hope that either Gaumont or Madman bring it to Blu-ray soon. I am sure the wait will be well worth it. If you wish to see the Theatrical Version of Betty Blue, I think that this Australian release is the best one currently on the market.
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