Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 22, 2011

Screened at the Cannes Film Festival and winner of Cesar Award for Best Documentary Film, Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea's "L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot" a.k.a. "Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Flicker Alley. The supplemental features on the disc include a short introduction to the film by director Serge Bromberg; image gallery; and the documentary film "They Saw Inferno". In French, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Romy Schneider as Odette

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s L’enfer a.k.a. Inferno (1964) was meant to be a small but groundbreaking film -- at least until representatives from Columbia Pictures saw some of the experimental footage the French director had shot and immediately granted him an unlimited budget.

The film was to tell a fascinating story about a man who becomes delirious after he convinces himself that his wife is having an affair. The man would then begin spending most of his time in an imaginary world where his worst nightmares would become a reality, while the real world would slowly start fading away. The majority of the film was supposed to be in black and white, but the intense nightmares were going to be in color.

Director Clouzot chose the stunningly beautiful Romy Schneider to play Odette, the adulterous wife, and the enigmatic Serge Reggiani to play Marcel, the jealous husband. During the pre-production process the two actors assumed that they had a good idea what type of film they would be making, but when shooting began they quickly realized that Inferno was unlike anything director Clouzot had done before.

The shooting sessions apparently drove some people mad. A certified insomniac and perfectionist, director Clouzot would spend weeks shooting a single scene without explaining to the cast members where exactly it would appear in the film. There is an interesting episode in this documentary where it is suggested that director Clouzot might have became obsessed with Schneider and lost touch with reality -- just like the main protagonist in his Inferno does. Eventually, Reggiani walked off the set, while Clouzot fell sick and shooting was halted.

Bromberg and Medrea’s documentary contains various interviews with people who assisted director Clouzot during the shooting of Inferno, such as assistant directors Bernard Stora (Un dérangement considérable) and Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing), art director Jacques Douy (Topkapi, Moonraker), special effects specialist Eric Duvivier, camera operator William Lubtchansky (La Belle Noiseuse, Les amants réguliers), Nguyen Thi Lan, Ines Clouzot, and others. A number of the color tests director Clouzot did with Schneider are also included in the documentary. Quite a few of them and especially the ones where Schneider is seen wearing various ultra-modern dresses look phenomenal. The psychedelic scenes are also very effective.

Actors Berenice Bejo (24 heures de la vie d'une femme) and Jacques Gamblin (Laissez-passer) also perform scenes from the original script for Inferno that were never filmed by director Clouzot. They are carefully placed between the original footage and effectively fill up some rather large gaps. The result is a strange but truly fascinating film about a legendary project that was never completed.

The film is complemented by a superb atmospheric soundtrack courtesy of French composer Bruno Alexiu (Défense d'aimer, Pom, le poulain).

*In 2009, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. A year later, the film won Cesar Award for Best Documentary Film (Best Documentary (Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea).

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea's Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Flicker Alley.

Understandably, the quality of some of the archival footage seen in the film varies. Portions of the B&W footage, for instance, have various tiny scratches, cuts, and debris. Many of the color tests, however, and especially the ones where director Clouzot experimented with the blue lipstick, look absolutely beautiful. In fact, color saturation on these tests is a lot better than I expected it to be (I have the R2 DVD release of the film, courtesy of Park Circus, and, surprisingly, color reproduction is actually slightly better on the Blu-ray). The new content -- the interviews with various people who assisted director Clouzot during the shooting of his film -- looks great. Finally, I did not detect any purely transfer-related issues to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your Blu-ray player regardless of your geographical location).

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, Flicker Alley have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature.

It is true that Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno is primarily a dialog-driven feature; the bulk of the film is comprised of various interviews and scenes from the film that are recreated - there was no sound for the footage from the film -- by Bérénice Bejo and Jacques Gamblin. However, the film is also complimented by a beautiful, very atmospheric soundtrack courtesy of Bruno Alexiu, which would have greatly benefited from a strong loseless track. Still, the French Dolby Digital 5.1 track has a very good dynamic amplitude that opens up well some of the psychedelic sequences. The dialog is also crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Director's Introduction - a short introduction to Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno by director Serge Bromberg. In French, with optional English subtitles. (9 min, 480/60i).

• They Saw Inferno - a wonderful documentary that sheds additional light on the fascinating project Inferno was, as well as how those who were involved with it reacted to it during the shooting process. In French, with optional English subtitles. (60 min, 1080p).

• Image Gallery - a collection of stills from shooting of the film and the various color tests which director Clouzot and his crew did. (1080p).

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea's Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno is a fascinating documentary. It is incredibly informative and rather unusually stylish. Flicker Alley's first Blu-ray release is very good. I only wish they would have included a loseless audio track of some sort as Bruno Alexiu's soundtrack is nothing short of brilliant. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.