Enough Rope Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Enough Rope Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 4, 2024

Claude Autant-Lara's "Enough Rope" a.k.a. "Le Meurtrier" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental feature on the release include new audio commentary by critics David Del Valle and Dana M. Reemes and original trailer. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

You are destined to be miserable.

Claude Autant-Lara was a favorite target for Francois Truffaut and his friends from the Nouvelle Vague gang. Truffaut often argued that Autant-Lara -- together with his other favorite target, Henri-Georges Clouzot -- operated with an outdated concept of cinema and produced predictably outdated and flawed films. Jean-Luc Godard was openly critical of the old guard too, and in many of his films, especially the early ones, he did very specific things to diminish the significance of the classic blueprint his predecessors had been working with. The changes produced lasting ripple effects, and not only in French cinema, but the more time passes, the clearer it becomes that what was targeted for destruction was vastly superior.

Indeed, except for a few undisputed masterpieces -- like The 400 Blows, Pierrot le fou, and Breathless -- the films that the rebellious directors left look terribly outdated now. Many, many of them seem strikingly pretentious as well. This is quite ironic because one of the main arguments against the films Autant-Lara and Clouzot made was that they were elitist, too detached from reality, which quickly became a crucial element of the ‘new’ films Truffaut, Godard, and their friends began making.

Autant-Lara’s Enough Rope is a fascinating film to deconstruct because it highlights perfectly, and in several different ways, the widening gap in the quality of the work done by the traditional and the rebellious directors during the 1960s. It is based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Blunderer, but it changes plenty from it and very much feels like an original project with a special identity. At the center of it is a murder case that links to a second murder case, instigating frequent overlapping of events from both that slowly begin pointing toward an elusive killer. However, despite producing a good noir atmosphere and wonderful curveballs, Enough Rope is not a classic whodunit. It is a great character study that has plenty in common with the type of complex psychological crime thrillers directors began shooting in the 1980s and 1990s. For example, its protagonist (Maurice Ronet), suspected of eliminating his wife (Yvonne Furneaux) for refusing to divorce him, is never seen as anything else but a deeply flawed man whose philosophy of life overrides his presumed guilt. Also, there is an equally flawed detective (Robert Hossein), who becomes obsessed with winning a psychological game in which another man (Gert Frobe) is suspected of eliminating his wife and trying to frame someone else. As a result, even though the search for the killer remains the main event, Enough Rope plays with its characters to question whether the truth is always enough to exonerate the innocent, a change that makes it a most unusual film.

It has a wonderful visual style, too. It blends noir and classic Gothic aesthetics, giving it a fresh appearance that looks very stylish now. More importantly, as shot by Autant-Lara, Enough Rope never leaves the impression that it pursues style or works hard to be seen as an unusual film. The big and famous French films from the 1960s, many of which came from the Nouvelle Vague gang, are not done this way. Virtually all of them are obsessed with their visual style and identified with it, which is why the majority of these films look terribly outdated now.

The one obvious weakness of Autant-Lara’s work in Enough Rope is his reluctance to take advantage of the natural beauty of several spectacular locations visited by the protagonist. There are a few gorgeous panoramic shots, but they are not enough. In the 1980s and 1990s, during the great neo-noir Renaissance, on-location work emphasizing natural beauty will become incredibly important. In fact, many directors, on both sides of the Atlantic, will routinely use it to shape the identities of their films.

In 2021, Enough Rope was restored in 4K from the original camera negative at French lab VDM. The work was done on behalf of TF1.

Enough Rope Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Enough Rope arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

In 2021, Enough Rope was restored in 4K from the original camera negative at French lab VDM. The work was done on behalf of TF1. This release introduces the 4K restoration in the United States.

It is immediately obvious that the film has undergone a major makeover because it looks incredibly healthy. The surface of the visuals is immaculate and stability is outstanding. Despite some minor fluctuations, which appear to be inherited, I would describe delineation, clarity, and depth as excellent. My only minor criticism pertains to darker areas, where occasionally some finer darker nuances begin to crush. I think that these areas could have been managed a little bit better. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Also, I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Enough Rope 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 subtitles are provided for the main feature.

It is just as easy to tell that the audio has been fully remastered as well. All dialog is very clear, sharp, and stable. The upper register does not reveal any unevenness, thinning, distortions, etc. Dynamic intensity is good, but the original soundtrack does not use music in any memorable ways.

Enough Rope Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics David Del Valle and Dana M. Reemes. I thought that Mr. Reemes had a lot of interesting comments about some of the major differences between the film and the novel that inspired it, plus the film's very interesting stylistic appearance. Also, there is good information about Claude Autant-Lara and his body of work, which features quite a few wonderful films that have been very difficult to see in the United States.

• Trailer - presented here is a trailer for Enough Rope. In French, with English subtitles. (3 min).

Enough Rope Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Many of Claude Autant-Lara's films, which were once dismissed with a great deal of passion by the directors from the Nouvelle Vague gang as outdated and flawed, can look very stylish and emerge as surprisingly relevant now. Enough Rope, one such film Autant-Lara made, is easy to place next to Love is My Profession because the two share similar noirish qualities. However, the former is a very interesting character study that asks several timeless questions, such as whether the truth is always enough to exonerate the innocent. Kino Lorber's release introduces a very good new 4K restoration of Enough Rope completed on behalf of TF1 in France. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.