Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Boy Meets Girl Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 16, 2014

Leos Carax's directorial debut "Boy Meets Girl" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include a video introduction by Denis Lavant and raw footage from the shooting of the film. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Alex

The great Denis Lavant is Alex, an aspiring young filmmaker whose girlfriend has ditched him for his best friend. Now he desperately wants to fall in love again, but he has less than a day before he must pack his bags and go to the Army.

Unsure if he should feel depressed or liberated, Alex wanders the street of Paris and observes the happy couples. When possible, he comes close to them and tries to absorb bits of their positive energy, the magic that keeps the lovers together. Some find his curiosity charming, but others are immediately annoyed by it.

In a cheap café, Alex pays the bill of a beautiful girl who smiles at him and quickly disappears into the night. Then he crashes a party organized by a pretentious but friendly socialite. At the party Alex meets Mireille (Mireille Perrier, For Sale, Love Without Pity), a beautiful but sad model who has also been ditched by her lover. Mireille quickly steals Alex’s heart -- she is beautiful, intelligent and unpredictable, exactly the type of girl Alex has been looking for.

Leos Carax’s directorial debut, Boy Meets Girl, is as much about Alex and Mireille as it is about the City of Lights and its timeless allure. It is shot in black and white and oozes the special atmosphere that is present in many of the best Nouvelle Vague films. (A great example is Paris vu par, a collection of six short films directed by six major Nouvelle Vague directors, in which various colorful characters meet in unusual ways and have memorable experiences while the camera unapologetically looks for beauty in the busy French capital).

In Boy Meets Girl there is plenty of the surreal humor that is frequently present in Jean-Luc Godard’s early films as well. For example, Lavant’s character isn’t as aggressive as the ones Jean-Paul Belmondo immortalized, but he is just as impulsive and willing to take risks that present him with bizarre dilemmas that are very similar to the ones Belmondo’s characters faced.

Lavant’s facial expressions are not as striking as they are in Carax’s later films -- in The Night is Young and especially in Lovers on the Bridge, where he plays a reckless alcoholic who suddenly discovers true love -- but there is a familiar purity in the way he moves and looks into the camera. Perrier is believable as the disillusioned model, but there are a few sequences where it is clear that she tries to look as brittle, innocent, and sweet as Anna Karina did in the early ‘60s.

The film does not have a prominent music score, but different music clips are used in a variety of unique ways to enhance the film’s frequently quite surreal atmosphere. The clips are from popular songs by Serge Gainsbourg, David Bowie, Dead Kennedys, Jacques Pinault, and Jo Lemaire.

In 1984, Boy Meets Girl had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Director Carax won Award of the Youth (French Film).

Boy Meets Girl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Leos Carax's Boy Meets Girl arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

Depth and clarity are dramatically improved throughout the entire film. During the nighttime footage, in particular, shadow definition is far more convincing. The fuzziness and macroblocking that frequently pop up on the R2 DVD release are also eliminated. Contrast levels remain stable. The blacks, grays, and whites are well balanced and looking natural -- there are no traces of boosting or other digital enhancements. The best news, however, is that there are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. There are some minor fluctuations and the grain could be slightly better resolved, but even viewers who project their films will be very pleased with the film's consistent organic appearance. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern, but there are a couple of sequences where some extremely light halo effects pop up. Overall image stability is excellent. Lastly, there are no large cuts, debris, stains, or damage marks to report in this review. All in all, the Blu-ray release represents a very strong upgrade in quality over the now out of print R2 DVD release of Boy Meets Girl. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Boy Meets Girl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Artificial Eye have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Boy Meets Girl does not have a prominent music score and there are no elaborate sound effects. Rather predictably, the range of nuanced dynamics is fairly limited. Clarity and depth, however, are greatly improved. (If you have the old R2 DVD release of Boy Meets Girl, compare the sequence with the copy machines right before Alex steals the records from the music shop). The dialog is clean, stable, and very easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, background hiss, or distortions to report in this review.

Boy Meets Girl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction by Denis Lavant - in this video introduction, Denis Lavant discusses the character he plays in Boy Meets Girl and the film's unusual atmosphere and rhythm. The introduction also appears on the old the R2 DVD release of the film. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (9 min).

• On Set: "In the Kitchen' - presented here is raw footage from the shooting of the kitchen sequence where Alex offers Mireille a cup of tea and tells her about his dreams. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (18 min).

Boy Meets Girl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ever since the high-definition format was launched, I have been hoping to see Leos Carax's early films given the treatment they deserve. British distributors Artificial Eye are now bringing Carax's very beautiful directorial debut Boy Meets Girl and his sophomore effort The Night is Young to Blu-ray and I could not be happier. As far as I am concerned, these are essential films to see and own. If you could play Region-B discs, I strongly encourage you to consider adding these releases to your collections. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.