7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Two sisters confront their sexual attitudes and experiences while on a family holiday.
Starring: Roxane Mesquida, Arsinée Khanjian, Laura Betti, Anaïs Reboux, Libero De RienzoForeign | 100% |
Drama | 88% |
Coming of age | 5% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.86:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Winner of France Culture Award - French Cineaste, Catherine Breillat’s "À ma soeur!" a.k.a. "Fat Girl" (2001) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include two trailers; interviews with Catherine Breillat; and standard making of featurette. The disc also arrives with a 20-page illustrated booklet containing Ginette Vincendeau's essay "Sisters, Sex, and Sitcom"; "One Soul With Two Sisters: An Interview with Catherine Breillat"; and "About the Title" by Catherine Breillat". In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Anais and Elena
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.86:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
Telecine supervisor: Lee Kline.
Telecine colorist: Jean-Marc Moreau/Vdm, Paris."
Certain parts of this high-definition transfer look rough - mild edge-enhancement pops up (see screencapture #14) and halo creeps in. In motion, however, both are quite difficult to spot, unless one expects or knows where to look for them. During the beach footage, for instance, edge-enhancement has a tendency to pop up and then very quickly disappear. Generally speaking, fine object detail is good, while clarity is consistent throughout the entire film. Contrast is also handled well; in fact, the obvious sharpening from the SDVD release of Fat Girl, which was prominent where contrast levels was weaker, is practically gone here. Furthermore, color reproduction is also improved. On the SDVD release the variety of blues and greens look weak, and there is quite a bit of shimmer that is easy to see during the daylight scenes, while on the Blu-ray the blues and greens look more natural. Some mild noise corrections have also been performed, though the film grain has largely been retained. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. I also did not see any damage marks, scratches, stains, or debris. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"The surround soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 6-track digital audio master. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation."
Fat Girl is primarily a dialog-driven feature without a prominent music score. Naturally, dynamic intensity and surround activity are quite limited. However, there are portions of the film, and specifically the powerful finale, where the depth and vibrancy good loseless tracks support are clearly felt. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. Also, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings, or audio dropouts to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.
Like Gaspar Noe, Virginie Despentes, and Jean-Claude Brisseau, Catherine Breillat's films are typically amongst the most daring and controversial screened each year at various prestigious festivals around the world. Fat Girl is not the director's most accessible film, but in my opinion it is her most effective one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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