Darling Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Darling Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 11, 2015

Winner of Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film, John Schlesinger's "Darling" (1965) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The only bonus feature on this disc is an original theatrical trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The ambitious girl

The similarities between John Schlesinger's Darling and Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita are unmissable. Both films can look strikingly beautiful and elegant, but they can also be uncompromisingly cynical and equally noisy and chaotic. Both films also effectively expose the erosion of the traditional trust between the two sexes during the '60s.

These films, however, have drastically different protagonists. In La Dolce Vita, the great Marcello Mastroianni plays an experienced reporter who has grown tired of spending time amongst social parasites and their hosts in the Eternal City. But because he needs their stories, he cannot abandon them. In Darling, Julie Christie is Diana Scott, a young and beautiful model who wants to reach the people Mastroianni's reporter despises. She also does not like their eccentricities, but understands that she must be present in their world to have the glamorous career she desires.

For Scott, the road to the top is not easy. First, Scott seduces the intellectual journalist Robert Gold (Dirk Bogarde, The Night Porter), who promptly leaves his family, convinced that the two were meant to be together. But when he introduces her to the cynical and powerful advertising executive Miles Brand (Laurence Harvey, The Manchurian Candidate), Scott quickly turns his back on him and rearranges her priorities. Through her new social friend, Scott then meets an extravagant homosexual photographer (Roland Curram, Silent Playground) who helps her enter the film business. Eventually, while shooting a film commercial in Italy, Scott is approached by the lonely millionaire Cesare della Romita (José Luis de Vilallonga, The Burglars) and asked if she would like to become his principessa.

The final twenty or so minutes are what make Darling relevant today. Scott begins reevaluating her life and realizes that her success has come at a hefty price. However, Darling does not condemn her choices and actions. Its message is that the little things that make life worth living create annoying complications, forcing people to doubt themselves and ultimately feel guilty. However, even though in the real world the top could be a lonely place at times, it is still a much better place than the bottom.

Apparently, the idea for Darling came from radio disc jockey Godfrey Winn, who knew an ambitious model that ended her life after having disastrous relationships with several influential ‘sponsors’. Frederic Raphael wrote the screenplay for Darlingand won an Academy Award for it, and later again collaborated with Schlesinger on Far from the Madding Crowd.

Christie also won an Academy Award. However, her first collaboration with Schlesinger was in Billy Liar. After Darling, she became an international star and went on to work with such renowned directors as David Lean (Doctor Zhivago), Francois Truffaut (Fahrenheit 451), Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now), and Robert Altman (McCabe & Mrs. Miller).

John Dankworth, who had previously worked with Joseph Losey on The Servant and The Criminal, created the excellent jazzy soundtrack.

Darling Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.64:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, John Schlesinger's Darling arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.

The release does not use as a foundation an extensive new restoration -- as it is the case with StudioCanal's release of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Tales of Hoffmann -- but the end result is good. Generally speaking, depth and clarity are quite nice. The majority of the well-lit close-ups typically have the best depth, but some of the outdoor panoramic shots also look very good. Grain is visible throughout the entire film, but it is somewhat uneven. To be perfectly clear, it does not have the tightness fresh scans typically introduce (see screencaptures # 3 and 18). This is arguably one of the key reasons why depth isn't as impressive as it could be. Edge-enhancement isn't an issue of concern, but there are traces of very light built-in sharpening (traces of halo effects can be seen in screencaptures #10 and 13). Overall image stability is good, but there are a few shaky transitions. Lastly, some minor damage marks, a few vertical lines, and some dirt specks occasionally pop up here and there, but never become distracting. All in all, even though the film has not been fully restored and there is some room for improvements, overall this is a fine organic presentation. I personally would rather have the film look exactly as it does now -- a bit rough and free of compromising digital corrections -- as opposed to having it "repolished" for Blu-ray. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Darling Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 (with small portions of Italian and French). Optional English SDH subtitles have been provided for the main feature.

The audio has been remastered and there isn't even a whiff of background hiss. Depth and clarity are very good and there are no balance issues. John Dankworth's lush jazzy score effortlessly open up the film in all the right places. The dialog is stable, very clean, and very easy to follow. Finally, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Darling Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Darling. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

Darling Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Schlesinger's Darling can be awfully cynical at times. However, this is precisely the reason why it feels so relevant today. Like its young and beautiful protagonist, many of us are brainwashed to relentlessly pursue success, but only a few truly understand what we are after and the price we would have to pay for it. The film could look better on Blu-ray, but this is a fine presentation that should please its fans. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.