Das Wilde Schaf Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Das Wilde Schaf Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 13, 2015

Michel Deville's "Love at the Top" a.k.a. "Le mouton enragé" (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors FilmConfect Home Entertainment/Rough Trade. There are no supplemental features on the disc, but the release comes with a booklet with writings on the film in German. In French, with optional English, German, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, and Italian subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Lovers

Nicolas Mallet (Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist), a naive bank clerk, meets Marie-Paule (Jane Birkin, Je Taime Moi Non Plus, Keep Your Right Up), a beautiful but lonely young girl, in a quiet corner of Paris. She smiles at him and he offers to buy her a drink. When she agrees, he assumes that his luck has finally changed. But when later on they rent a room in a cheap hotel, he discovers that she is a prostitute. Before they make love, he forces her to tell him that she came to the hotel because she truly wanted him.

Feeling good about himself, Nicolas meets old pal Claude Fabre (Jean-Pierre Cassel, Army of Shadows), a handicapped intellectual, in their favorite bistro and immediately tells him about his experience with Marie-Paule. Intrigued and inspired by Nicolas’ accomplishment, Claude decides to transform him into the type of man women cannot resist and wealthy men would flock to do business with. When the transformation is complete, Claude will document it in his next novel.

Michel Deville directed Le mouton enrage a.k.a. Love at the Top more than forty years ago, but its visual style and very intelligent social commentary give it a strikingly contemporary identity. It is unquestionably one of Deville’s best, but as it is the case with the majority of his films, it is virtually unknown on this side of the Atlantic.

Love at the Top blends the biting sarcasm of Luis Bunuel’s classic films and the social awareness of Elio Petri’s films (without the unbridled anger) to expose the hypocrisy of a society in which everyone has a price. There is a good dose of Marco Ferreri’s cynicism in it as well, though it is far better controlled and ultimately a lot easier to tolerate.

The focus of attention is on the moral corruption of Trintignant’s character. Initially, Nicolas is a vulnerable man whose life is fully controlled by the system he serves. After his surprising encounter with the beautiful prostitute Marie-Paule, however, he is lured out of it and taught how to manipulate it. Gradually, the former bank clerk evolves into a dangerous chameleon without morals that would do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals.

During the early stages of his transformation Nicolas falls in love with the sexually frustrated wife (Romy Schneider, César et Rosalie) of a busy professor (Michel Vitold, La nuit de Varennes) with a serious drinking problem. For a while Deville allows the lovers to enjoy their affair, and by doing so relaxes the film quite well, but eventually they are separated and the film shifts gears dramatically. Around the same time, Nicolas also meets the strikingly elegant Flora Danieli (Florinda Bolkan, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion), but Deville uses their short-lived relationship only as a litmus test. (Flora is a far more experienced chameleon that can instantly recognize ambitious contenders like Nicolas).

The film ends with a type of moral lesson Hollywood loves to avoid. It is hardly surprising, but because it is honest and fair, it feels fresh.

Trintignant is unquestionably the star of the film, but Schneider, Cassel, Bolkan, and Birkin are equally impressive. Georges Wilson is also leaves a lasting impression as the overly ambitious businessman Lourceuil.

Deville shot Love at the Top with his regular cinematographer, Claude Lecomte (The Bear and the Doll, The Woman in Blue).

Das Wilde Schaf 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, Michel Deville's Love at the Top arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors FilmConfect Home Entertainment/Rough Trade.

The high-definition transfer has been struck from a dated master, and as far as I can tell it appears to be the same master that Universal Studios used for the R2 DVD release of Love at the Top (the disc is included in the Romy Schneider Classic Edition five-disc box set). While this may seem disappointing -- and it should be said that the film can and should look a lot better in high-definition -- the Blu-ray release actually offers substantial improvements in terms of image quality. Admittedly, the main reason why has to do with the fact that the old R2 DVD release uses a non-anamorphic transfer which makes it virtually impossible to appreciate the film's wonderful cinematography and editing, but there are visible improvements. On the Blu-ray the film is framed correctly and for the most part detail and clarity are either average or satisfying. Colors are also stable, though color saturation can be improved. The biggest issue here is the presence of various sharpening adjustments as well as some partial filtering corrections that have been inherited from the old master. Rather predictably, there are portions of the film that can look quite harsh, though I would like to mention again that at least some depth is retained and now the film can be enjoyed on larger than 55' screens. Image stability is good, but a few minor scratches occasionally pop up here and there. The encoding is also decent. To sum it all up, it is easy to see that there is room for important improvements, but given how poor previous DVD releases of Love at the Top have been it is nice to have this attractively priced Blu-ray release on the market. (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).

Das Wilde Schaf Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, FilmConfect Home Entertainment/Rough Trade have provided optional English, German, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, and Italian subtitles for the main feature.

The original French track is very good. I did some direct comparisons with the lossy track from my R2 DVD release and I can categorically state that depth is better. Obviously, the audio is also correctly pitched. The dialog is clean, stable, and easy to follow, and there are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review. The English translation is good, but the subtitles should have been managed better so that the speakers are better identified.

Das Wilde Schaf Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Booklet - the release comes with a booklet with writings on the film in German. The booklet is part of the hard-cover digi-style case.

Das Wilde Schaf Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is very unfortunate that even during the DVD era the films of Michel Deville were largely ignored in North America. Deville has a very unique style and he also worked with many of European cinema's greatest stars. I consider Love at the Top one of the French director's best films. It has a tremendous cast and its social commentary is quite simply superb. Love at the Top is now available on Blu-ray in Germany, but it does not look as good as it should. Nevertheless, I encourage you to consider adding it to your libraries as it is far better than the old DVD release Universal Studios produced years ago, and because I don't believe that a North American company is likely to invest in a new restoration. RECOMMENDED.