Crime et châtiment Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Crime et châtiment Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 21, 2015

Georges Lampin's "Crime and Punishment" a.k.a. "Crime et châtiment" (1956) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include an original theatrical trailer for the film and new documentary produced by Dominique Maillet. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Rene Brunel

As the title reveals, the film was inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic novel. It is directed by Georges Lampin and it is based on a script by Charles Spaak, who collaborated with Jean Renoir on La Grande Illusion and Marcel Carné on Therese Raquin.

Robert Hossein is Rene Brunel, a poor and disillusioned student who lives life one day at a time. On a dark and gloomy night, Rene meets Pierre Marcellin (Julien Carette, La Bête Humaine), an elderly man who has started drinking because he can no longer support his family. They share a bottle of wine and then Rene walks Pierre back to his place. The misery overwhelms him and he leaves Pierre and his wife the money wealthy antique dealer Antoine Monestier (Bernard Blier, Quai des Orfèvres) has given him because he plans to marry his sister, Nicole (Ulla Jacobsson, Smiles of a Summer Night). When Pierre accidentally falls over a rotten banister and dies, Rene decides to find his daughter, Lili (Marina Vlady, Splendor), who has become a prostitute to support herself.

Soon after, Rene’s mother (Gaby Morlay, Le Bonheur) and Nicole arrive in town to meet Monestier. Rene sends his best friend, Jean (Gerard Blain, Le beau Serge), to greet them because he can’t stand seeing Monestier next to his sister. At the train station, Jean’s kindness immediately wins Nicole’s heart.

Meanwhile, Rene decides to kill Madame Horvais (Gabrielle Fontan, A Day in the Country) and steal her money so that he can help his family get rid of Monestier. He also plans to help Lili leave her profession and start a new life.

When Madame Horvais’ body is eventually discovered, Commissar Gallet (Jean Gabin, Le Jour se Lève) begins asking questions. Gustave Messonnier (Lino Ventura, Classe Tous Risques), a jaded bartender, tells Gallet that many people in the neighborhood would have loved to kill Madame Horvais -- including the disillusioned Rene.

Lampin’s take on Dostoyevsky’s famous novel is a rather unusual one. The film is very dark and quite bleak, at times more interested in building a specific atmosphere rather than following closely the main characters and their dilemma. It fits somewhere between Yves Allegret's Such a Pretty Little Beach and Claude Autant-Lara’s Love is My Profession.

Virtually all of the important characters undergo sizeable transformations. They are all victims of a cruel system that has crushed their dreams and made them question whether life is actually worth living. Rene is the smartest and most cynical amongst them, a rebel who isn’t afraid to challenge the system he believes has predetermined how he would live and die.

Interestingly enough, the two biggest stars, Gabin and Ventura, appear only in a few sequences but still manage to leave lasting impressions. Both play characters that clearly see how unfair the system is but prefer not to question it. Whether they are wiser than the rest or dangerous conformists who are directly responsible for its existence is something one is left to ponder after the end credits roll. Hossein and Blier are both excellent while Vlady looks stunningly beautiful.

Claude Renoir’s lensing infuses the film with a tremendous noirish atmosphere. The footage from the quayside where the prostitutes work, in particular, looks terrific.

The film’s old=fashioned but elegant orchestra score was created by Maurice Thiriet (Marcel Carne’s Children of Paradise, Christian-Jaque Fanfan La Tulipe).

Crime et châtiment Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Georges Lampin's Crime and Punishment arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.

The film has been recently restored in 2K and from what I could tell the actual restoration appears to be very strong. Indeed, there are many close-ups that boast pleasing detail and during the daylight sequences clarity is very good (see screencapture #11). Additionally, overall image stability is excellent -- there is no edge flicker and transitions are smooth. However, there are traces of light denoising adjustments. They are not disastrous, but it is not difficult to see that in select areas they have collapsed existing detail (see screencaptures #10 and 12). The bigger issue here is that the transfer also does not have a solid dynamic range -- the balance between the blacks and grays isn't convincing and as a result depth isn't as good as it should be (see screencapture #3). Finally, there are some very light blocky patches that pop up during a few of the darker sequences (you can see an obvious example in screencapture #6). Ultimately, I have mixed feelings about the technical presentation of Crime and Punishment. Indeed, the restoration appears to be quite nice, but there are visible traces of unneeded adjustments again and the encoding should have been a lot more convincing. Frankly, I feel that if a different distributor uses the same restoration to produce a Blu-ray release of Crime and Punishment in a different market, the end result will be far more convincing. (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 PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Crime et châtiment Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English and French SDH subtitles have been provided for the main feature.

The audio is clean and stable. Maurice Thiriet's score does enhance the dramatic atmosphere quite well, but rather predictably dynamic intensity is limited. Depth and clarity are very good. There is some extremely light thinning in the high frequencies, but clarity is still quite nice. The English translation is excellent.

Crime et châtiment Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande-annonce - original French theatrical trailer for Crime and Punishment. In French, not subtitled. (4 min, 1080p).

• Georges Lampin, cineaste mystere - new documentary focusing on the life and legacy of director Georges Lampin and the production history of Crime and Punishment. Included in it are new interviews with actor Robert Hossein, film historian and Bernard Blier biographer Jean-Philippe Guerand, and director Jean Valère (The Bitch Wants Blood). The documentary was produced by Dominique Maillet. In French, not subtitled. (30 min, 1080p).

Crime et châtiment Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I somehow never managed to see Georges Lampin's Crime and Punishment even though the enormously impressive cast should have convinced me to seek a copy of it during the DVD era. It is a very unusual take on Fyodor Dostoevsky's famous novel that blends social realism and elements of film noir. Crime and Punishment has been recently restored in 2K and I think that the restoration is actually quite nice. Gaumont's technical presentation of the restoration, however, is somewhat inconsistent. Still, I would be surprised if a Blu-ray release emerges in the United States. If you can find the French release on sale, consider adding it to your collections. The film is excellent. RECOMMENDED.