Cuisine et Dépendances Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Cuisine et Dépendances Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 22, 2015

Philippe Muyl's "Kitchen with Apartment" a.k.a. "Cuisine et dépendances" arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; introduction by the French director; video interview with cinematographer Willy Kurant; and documentary feature with cast and crew interviews. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Before the dinner

It has been ten years since Martine (Zabou, Le premier jour du reste de ta vie) and Jacques (Sam Karmann, Just Between Us) have seen their best friend. But Martine has just met him in front of her dancing school and invited him and his lovely wife, Charlotte (Agnes Jaoui, Look at Me), to their place for dinner.

Martine and Jacques have carefully arranged everything, from the wine and ice cream they will serve to the napkins they will be using, because they want the dinner to be perfect. But both are concerned that there might be some unexpected complications throughout the night because their other friend, Georges (Jean-Pierre Bacri, Let's Talk About The Rain), who has permanently relocated to the cozy couch in their living room, was once madly in love with Charlotte. So, there is potential for some serious drama -- especially since Georges, who never became the successful writer he wanted to be, is still upset with Charlotte’s decision to leave him and marry her husband, a TV professional with an impressive career. There is even a small chance that Fred (Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Le Havre), Martine’s brother and a compulsive gambler who has been trying to avoid his creditors, might attempt to trick Martine and Jacques’ best friend into a high-stakes poker game.

Based on Jaoui and Bacri’s successful stage play, Philippe Muyl’s Cuisine et dependances a.k.a. Kitchen with Apartment is a light and very witty comedy about the strange games the two sexes love to play. The film was released in 1993 and since then former real-life partners Jaoui and Bacri have collaborated on a number of different projects whose style has been hailed as the Gallic answer to Woody Allen.

Virtually the entire film takes place in the apartment’s large kitchen where Martine, Jacques, Charlotte, Georges, and Fred discuss their minor triumphs and failures. The only person that never steps in front of the camera is the man who has brought them together, Charlotte’s successful husband. He is always in ‘the other room’, where everyone apparently wears a mask.

There are no masks in the kitchen – there are real feelings and emotions on display that instantly reveal how the men and women feel about each other and their lives. A few of the discussions are quite intense, but there isn’t even a whiff of cheap melodrama.

It is difficult to pick a star in this film. Bacri plays the disillusioned and cynical writer to perfection. Jaoui is also excellent as the quiet and very elegant wife of the TV star who has grown tired of being treated as an object. Zabou and Karmann are very convincing as the married couple who have come to realize that they are compromising a lot more than two people that are truly in love should. And Darroussin is very entertaining as the compulsive gambler who desperately needs yet another loan to pay off his debt.

The film is wonderfully lensed by cinematographer Willy Kurant (Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Féminin, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s Trans-Europ Express).

The wonderful exotic soundtrack was created by the great Romanian composer Vladimir Cosma (Claude Pinoteau’s La Boum, Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva).

Cuisine et Dépendances Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Philippe Muyl's Kitchen with Apartment arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.

My one and only complaint with the technical presentation of this very witty comedy pertains to the less than impressive encoding, which has introduced some unevenness in terms of grain distribution and stability. Indeed, the encoding has not been optimized and as a result there are areas of the film where the grain looks lumpy and occasionally even evolves into light artifacts (you can see the effect on the blue jacket in screencapture #10). This being said, depth and clarity are indeed very pleasing, while contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. The best news, however, is that there are no traces of the problematic filtering and sharpening adjustments some other recent Gaumont releases have been plagued with. Colors are lush, stable, and healthy. Finally, there are absolutely no serious stability issues to report in this review. All in all, Gaumont's new master is lovely, but it is clear that if the encoding was better, the film would lave looked even more impressive on Blu-ray. (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).

Cuisine et Dépendances Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, there are optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The film is complimented by a wonderful exotic soundtrack courtesy of the great Romanian composer Vladimir Cosma. Between the passionate discussions the music opes up the film exceptionally well, but you should not expect a wide range of nuanced dynamics. Indeed, the film's original sound design is rather modest -- and this is hardly surprising considering the fact that virtually all of the footage was shot in a well decorated kitchen and an unusually long vestibule. The dialog is very crisp, clean stable, and easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.

Cuisine et Dépendances Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande-annonce - restored French trailer for the film. In French, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Presentation du film par Philippe Muyl - director Philippe Muyl introduces Kitchen with Apartment and quickly discusses some of its unique qualities. In French, not subtitled. (8 min).

• "L'oiseau Rare": Documentaire - cast crew members discuss the play that inspired Philippe Muyl's film and discuss their contributions to it. In French, not subtitled. (25 min).

• Entretien avec Willy Kurant - presented here is an archival interview with cinematographer Willy Kurant. In French, not subtitled. (5 min).

Cuisine et Dépendances Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you have seen and enjoyed The Taste of Others, Look at Me, and Let's Talk About The Rain, you should definitely consider importing Gaumont's release of Philippe Muyl's Kitchen with Apartment. I would even recommend it to those of you who liked the style and atmosphere of Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill. As usual, Gaumont's Blu-ray release is Region-Free, English-friendly and very attractively priced. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.