Five Day Lover Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Five Day Lover Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 24, 2016

In a way it’s a testament to the versatility of Philippe de Broca that the two films collected in a new release from the Cohen Film Collection really have very little in common other than the fact that they’re both directed by de Broca. Despite a long and varied career, de Broca may still be best remembered on this side of the pond for either That Man from Rio (available in its own double feature from Cohen, That Man from Rio / Up to His Ears) and/or King of Hearts, two films (or perhaps more accurately, two more films) which simply further prove de Broca’s ability to segue fairly effortlessly between genres and even styles. This particular two-fer offers 1961’s Five Day Lover, a kind of sex comedy with hints of farce, along with the much later On Guard from 1997, a surprisingly ebullient swashbuckler. While de Broca contributed to the writing of both films, and (obviously) directed both of them, the two are manifestly different in about every other imaginable way, including the fact that Five Day Lover is in black and white while On Guard is in color. While a kind of odd pairing, therefore, this Cohen double feature is nonetheless rather instructive in highlighting the versatility of de Broca, a director who is still kind of oddly underappreciated outside of his native France.

Jean Seberg was well into her “French period” by the time she starred as Claire in Five Day Lover in 1961. Having been excoriated by American critics in Saint Joan and Bonjour Tristesse, Seberg may have taken a subliminal hint from the language of that second film and retreated to France, where she of course became an icon of the nouvelle vague in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Both the structure of and Seberg’s character in Five Day Lover are considerably less anachronistic than what Breathless presented, which is not to say that the de Broca film isn’t provocative on its own terms.

The directorial economy of de Broca is on display from the first moments of Five Day Lover, where, with a series of efficient tracking shots he introduces Claire (Jean Seberg), her fashion designer friend Madeleine (Micheline Presle), and the man who will soon become Claire’s lover, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Cassel). It’s a fashion show highlighting the latest offerings from Madeleine, and Claire has shown up to take part in the festivities. She ends up sitting next to Antoine, and some pretty heavy flirting starts taking place, despite the fact that Antoine quickly realizes he’s dealing with a “madame”, not a “mademoiselle”. The film rather quickly segues from this “meet cute” to “hook up” status, with Claire and Antoine in post-coital bliss in Antoine’s apartment, one of those artist’s grottos with an incredible view of Paris, despite the rain. (The flat’s huge windows and general appointments may recall a similarly improbable apartment that young folks most likely wouldn’t be able to afford, one of the main sets in the long running American sitcom Friends: The Complete Series.)

It soon becomes apparent that Antoine and Madeleine have been in a relationship, something that Claire knows but doesn’t exacerbate, telling Antoine that she doesn’t really know Madeleine (an artifice that soon begins unraveling). Rather interestingly, at least in terms of a film dealing with extra-marital dalliances, it actually takes a while for Five Day Lover to finally introduce Claire’s husband, a well meaning if probably kind of boring sort named Georges (François Périer). Perhaps most disturbingly, at least for those without the traditionally Gallic “laissez faire” attitude toward affairs, is the fact that Claire and Georges have adorable progeny. There’s a hint (later overtly detailed) that Georges knows “what’s up” with Claire, and simply allows her to stray without any severe consequences.

When Madeleine, who’s a bit older than Claire and who for all intents and purposes has been “keeping” Antoine, starts to realize what’s happening, she decides to get everyone together at a party to see what shakes out. In a way this part of Five Day Lover reminded me quite a bit of Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night , with obviously mismatched couples eyeing each other across crowded rooms. Five Day Lover has little of Bergman’s philosophical depth, but its examination of the vagaries of the human heart is at times quite similar to the legendary Bergman film.

Five Day Lover Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Five Day Lover is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Both the trailer included in this release as the sole supplement as well as Cohen's site tout a new 2K restoration of this title, and while there's still some variable levels of sharpness, generally speaking this is a great looking transfer. The black and white cinematography of Jean Penzer receives a very natural looking rendering here, with good, solid blacks and appealingly modulated gray scale. A lot of the film plays out against rainy backgrounds, and as such some shots and/or scenes have deficits in detail levels and shadow definition. Some on the fly location photography also tends to look a bit grittier and softer than the bulk of the presentation. Detail levels are generally commendable, especially in close-ups. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation, and there are no issues with image instability.

Five Day Lover Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again Cohen may antagonize ardent Blu-ray collectors by offering a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track on this release. Why Cohen continues to release these titles which are obviously aimed at "discriminating" cineastes with lossy audio is a bit odd, to say the least, but due to the fact that so much of Five Day Lover relies on smaller scale dialogue scenes, the lossy audio may not be as much of a deal breaker as it might otherwise have been. There's no outright damage here, and everything is presented cleanly and clearly, but this continuing lack of lossless audio is a bit frustrating nonetheless.

Five Day Lover Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:42)

Five Day Lover Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm not sure Five Day Lover ever quite attains the kind of emotional catharsis it seems to be aiming for, but ironically part of that may be due to the kind of typically sanguine quality the French seem to have about extramarital affairs (in other words, if husband Georges isn't that freaked out about things, why should the audience be?). Seberg is her typically winsome self, and Cassel and Presle are also excellent in what are kind of unlikable roles. Video looks great, but once again Cohen has offered only lossy audio. All things considered, Five Day Lover comes Recommended.