7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
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 | 86% |
Romance | 24% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: LPCM 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Region free
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Nominated for Oscar Award for Best Foreign Language Films, Jean-Jacques Beineix's "37°2 le matin" a.k.a. "Betty Blue" (1986) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Second Sight Films. The release contains the Theatrical Version and the long Director's Cut of the film. The supplemental features include archival footage from an early screen test with actress Beatrice Dalle and an a new documentary film produced by Severin Films and Second Sight Films. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
The lovers
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Second Sight Films.
Please note that the Blu-ray contains the short Theatrical Version of the film and the long Director's Cut of the film. All screencaptures included with this review are from director Beineix's cut of the film.
Running times:
1. Director's Cut (Version integrale): 03.04.41.
2. Theatrical Version: 02.01.03.
I like how the Director's Cut of Betty Blue looks in high-definition quite a lot. Excluding some minor sporadic artifacts (see the bottom left area of screencapture #3), the technical presentation is indeed very pleasing. Image depth and clarity are excellent, especially where there is plenty of natural light, while colors are lush, stable, and natural. The very distracting smoothing effect from the U.S. release -- which has only the short theatrical version of the film -- is also missing. Contrast levels are stable. There are no traces of problematic degraining/filtering corrections. Sharpening adjustments also have not been applied. Unsurprisingly, the film has a very pleasing organic look. Overall image stability is also very good. This being said, there are two transitions where I noticed some very light banding. However, I doubt most viewers will be able to spot them. Indeed, viewed on a large TV, or projected, the film looks the best it ever has. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic 1080/50i or PAL content preceding the disc's main menu).
The Director's Cut and the Theatrical Version of Betty Blue arrives with French LPCM 2.0 track. For the record, Second Sight Films have provided optional English subtitles for each version.
The inclusion of lossless audio -- unlike the Second Sight Films' release the U.S. release and the Australian release of Betty Blue have only lossy tracks -- makes an enormous difference. Now Gabriel Yared's legendary soundtrack completely transforms the viewing experience -- the lonely sax solos sound quite remarkable and effectively add to the film's special atmosphere. There is also a good range of nuanced dynamics (see the sequence where Zorg and his friend try to move the piano). The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow.
Note: All of the supplemental features are placed on a separate DVD, which is PAL-encoded. Therefore, of you reside in North America you need to have a Region-Free Blu-ray player, standard Blu-ray player that can convert PAL to NTSC, or Region-Free DVD player to access its content.
I am very happy with Second Sight Films' new Blu-ray release of Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue. There is some room for minor improvements, but I feel that we finally have a release that does this beautiful film justice. Together with Severin Films, the British distributors have also produced a wonderful new documentary which features some truly illuminating interviews. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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