6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A film director finds himself drawn into affairs with two women while searching for an actress for his next film.
Starring: Tomas Milián, Daniela Silverio, Christine Boisson, Lara Wendel, Veronica LazarDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 91% |
Romance | 25% |
Erotic | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
French: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
French, French SDH, English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
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
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).
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.
Note: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray release are perfectly playable on North American Blu-ray machines, including the PS3.
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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