Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Identification d'une femme Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 24, 2013

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award and winner of the 35th Anniversary Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Michelangelo Antonioni's "Identificazione di una donna" a.k.a. "Identification of a Woman" (1982) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include an original French trailer for the film; new video interview with actress Christine Boisson; and a new documentary film focusing on the production history of "Identification of a Woman" directed by Dominique Maillet and Emilie Voisin. In Italian, with optional English, French, and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

At the party

Niccolo (Tomas Milian, Don't Torture a Duckling, The Designated Victim) is a successful Italian film director whose wife has recently left him. While reevaluating his life and looking for a subject for his next film, he begins seeing two women - Mavi (Daniela Silverio, Oriana), an unprejudiced and unpredictable aristocratic beauty, and Ida (Christine Boisson, Emmanuelle, The Mechanics of Women), a talented and emotionally available young actress. Both manage to fill large voids in his life but fail to replace his wife.

Eventually, Niccolo’s frustration hurts his relationship with Mavi and she quietly disappears -- first temporarily, then permanently. While searching for her, his relationship with Ida begins to deteriorate and he becomes seriously depressed. A stranger also warns Niccolo to stay away from Mavi.

Realizing that Niccolo is on the road to self-destruction, Ida comes up with a brilliant plan that allows him to track down Mavi. However, when the two finally meet again, he discovers that it wasn’t his lover that he had been obsessed with but something else -- something very real yet elusive, meaningful yet meaningless.

Michelangelo Antonioni’s Identification of a Woman has some interesting similarities with Federico Fellini’s 8½. In both films, the main protagonists are film directors who struggle enormously and make important discoverers. In both films reality and fantasy are closely intertwined, forcing one to continuously guess where the former ends and the latter begins. The two films also share a degree of honesty that is admirable.

What separates the two films are the women the directors meet and have relationships with. In 8½ they are beautiful and seductive, admired by the director but almost always seen and treated like beautiful objects. In Identification of a Woman they are real, insatiable, difficult to predict, and perhaps even dangerous. They can inspire and, as the director eventually discovers, be inspired to take risks and challenge perceptions.

Unsurprisingly, what is identified in Antonioni’s film is actually the gap that separates the two sexes. The various outdated expectations the director has about the women he sees are in fact what turns his world upside down -- he is so out of sync with reality that nothing makes sense to him other than making love, which is why he nearly loses his mind after Mavi disappears. On the other hand, it is during the lovemaking scenes where the women are identified -- their personalities, desires, insecurities.

The massive fog which engulfs the director and Mavi halfway through the film symbolizes the strange disconnect between the two sexes -- they feel their presence, as in real life, but are left without familiar signs to follow, frustrated and scared, mad at each other.

Identification of a Woman is not an easy film to like. It requires some patience and willingness to follow its story even if at times it looks impossible to fully comprehend. The manner in which reality and fantasy overlap in particular could be quite frustrating. Ultimately, however, the film’s honest and at the same time remarkably atmospheric depiction of the ever-evolving relationship between the two sexes and their insecurities is indeed quite fascinating to behold.

*In 1982, Identification of a Woman was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award and won the 35th Anniversary Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Identification d'une femme Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michelangelo Antonioni's Identification of a Woman arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.

Gaumont's presentation of Michelangelo Antonioni's film is likely to inspire some very interesting discussions because it has very little in common with Criterion's presentation of the film. First, the two high-definition transfers the French and U.S. releases use have completely different color-schemes. On the Gaumont release blues and greens are the prevalent colors, while on the Criterion release reds and light browns are quite prominent. You can see how drastic these discrepancies if you compare screencaptures #1, 11, and 15 with screencaptures #1, 2, and 4 from our review of the Criterion release. The difference here very much reminds me of the different discrepancies that are present between various European and North American releases of films directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. In this case, I prefer the more prominent blues and greens on the Gaumont release as they are more in sync with my memories of the film, but it should be said that the technical information found in the booklet offered with the Criterion release of Identification of a Woman clarifies that the color correction of the telecine the company had access to was done in Rome. Second, none of the light noise from the Criterion release is present here. Unsurprisingly, there are many close-ups that look very impressive. There are no traces of excessive degraining and sharpening corrections. Purely transfer-specific anomalies, such as banding and aliasing, also do not plague the high-definition transfer. Lastly, there are no large cuts, damage marks, debris, stains, or warps to report in this review. All in all, I have to say that I prefer the color-scheme and overall look of the Gaumont release, but I think that there is plenty of room for interesting speculations addressing the drastic differences between this very recent release and the one Criterion produced in 2011. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Identification d'une femme Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 and French DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. For the record, Gaumont have provided optional English, French, and French SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless Italian track is not identical to the one found on the Criterion release. The light background hiss that is present on the Italian LPCM 1.0 track isn't felt on the Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 track. Naturally, I must speculate that the Italian track on the Gaumont release either comes from a completely different source or some corrections were made to remove the hiss and improve stability. Needless to say, the final result is far more convincing. Dynamic intensity, however, is identical. Lastly, the English translation is very good.

Identification d'une femme Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray release are perfectly playable on North American Blu-ray machines, including the PS3.

• Bande-annonce - original French trailer for Michelangelo Antonioni's Identification of a Woman. In French, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Ida, la fleur du male - actress Christine Boisson (Ida) discusses her contribution to Identification of a Woman and initial impressions of Michelangelo Antonioni and his directing style. The interview was conducted by Dominique Maillet. In French and Italian, with optional French subtitles where necessary. (27 min, 1080p).

• Nu de Femmes - a new documentary film focusing on the production history of Michelangelo Antonioni's Identification of a Woman directed by Dominique Maillet and Emilie Voisin. The documentary contains interviews with cinematographer Tonino Guerra, the Italian director's wife, Enrica Antonioni (Nadia), writer Aldo Tassone (author of Antonioni), script supervisor Renata Franceschi, and production designer Andrea Crisanti. In Italian and French, with optional French subtitles where necessary. (47 min, 1080p).

Identification d'une femme Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gaumont's release of Michelangelo Antonioni's Identification of a Woman is guaranteed to inspire some interesting speculations. Indeed, this presentation of the film has little in common with Criterion's presentation of the film. I prefer the more prominent blues and greens on the Gaumont release as they are more in sync with my memories of the film, but I am sure there will be viewers that will choose the overall warmer look of the Criterion release. Gaumont's release also comes with some very informative supplemental features, but they are not subtitled in English. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.