Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Images Blu-ray Movie Review

Persona 2?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 4, 2018

The commentary on this new Blu-ray by Katt Ellinger and Samm Deighan of Diabolique Magazine makes an acceptable if perhaps debatable case that Images should be seen as part of a supposed Robert Altman triptych that also includes 1969’s That Cold Day in the Park and 1977’s 3 Women. While it’s true that there are certain through lines linking this trio of films, one that offers some refractions of character and even plot that help inform all three within a wider context, there’s perhaps a more salient “extracurricular” cinematic referent that some viewers might think of when they first encounter Images, and that would be Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. In fact when I first saw Images years ago as a teenager, I actually thought that Altman may have been attempting some sort of sly remake of the now legendary Bergman outing, since both feature a comely blonde heroine who is a creative type, but who is under the throes of some sort of mental instability. Altman doesn’t offer the same visual acuity that Bergman does in Persona, and he also doesn’t attempt to depict incipient schizophrenia in the same way Bergman does, but both films have a really unsettling ambience that in some ways at least is quite strikingly similar.

Cathryn (Susannah York) is a well to do author of children’s books (the film utilizes a book for kids actually written by York), who has been receiving a litany of harassing phone calls. A woman on the other end of the line taunts Cathryn, insinuating that Cathryn’s husband Hugh (René Auberjonois) is not being faithful. Cathryn also seems to be experiencing both visual and auditory hallucinations, and once Hugh returns home late one night, in the film’s first arresting display of disjunctive editing, Cathryn actually experiences Hugh transforming into another man, something that understandably pushes her into panic mode and which obviously distresses Hugh as well.

In an attempt to hopefully quiet her roiling nerves, Hugh takes Cathryn to a gorgeous if remote cottage in Ireland, but even in this supposedly serene environment, Cathryn’s unraveling psyche continues its tendency toward fraying. Another interesting presentational aspect comes into play even before Cathryn and Hugh arrive at their location, as Hugh stops their car on a bluff overlooking the cottage. Cathryn stands on a cliff looking down at the picturesque locale, only to see herself arriving at it. The film then switches to “that” Cathryn, who initially seems to be alone, at least physically. The soundtrack is still filled with inexplicable snippets of conversation and other effects that suggest Cathryn is experiencing more troubling hallucinations. Hugh does suddenly show up, but in the meantime, there’s another character who wafts in and out of the proceedings, a man named Rene (Marcel Bozzuffi) who is ostensibly dead and was a former lover of Cathryn’s.

Things get even more crowded, in the cottage and/or perhaps in Cathryn’s addled mind, with the arrival of Marcel (Hugh Millais) and his daughter Susannah (Cathryn Harrison), with repeated allusions to at least one murder that may or may not have happened. Images is deliberately opaque in terms of plot mechanics, but there’s some of Altman’s inherently sly humor in terms of his character names and the performers playing them. Think about it for a moment: Susannah is playing Cathryn, Cathryn is playing Susannah, René is playing Hugh, Marcel is playing René, and Hugh is playing Marcel. Certainly this all can’t have been by chance, and it hints at something else that perhaps subliminally links this film to Persona, the sort of “meta” aspect of an actor playing a role and knowing (on screen) that a role is being played. It’s interesting to note in this regard that Liv Ullmann’s character in Persona is indeed an actress, while Altman perhaps uses a bit of cheeky misdirection to get to the same basic point.

While that weird concatenation of actor and role names is mentioned by Deighan and Ellinger, Stephen Thrower gets to the "meta" aspect with regard to the character of Hugh, who is a photographer, meaning there are lots of lenses lying around, not to mention a couple of key moments involving cameras. There's even a brief moment (not mentioned explicitly by Thrower, but included in the supplement featuring him) where it sure looks like York is staring straight at Altman's camera with a kind of sly smile on her face, as if to suggest there's an inside joke about it all if only one were to look hard enough.

But Altman’s trickery is perhaps more clever than the film itself. Images seems to be aiming for some kind of The Twilight Zone catharsis in terms of Cathryn’s mental dissolution, and yet Altman leaves the audience feeling as confused as his heroine. Nothing is clear here, and perhaps the only saving grace of the incoherence is that ultimately Altman doesn’t even try to pretend that things do make sense. York is impressive in a role that often requires her to be basically a walking bag of actorly tics, and she probably remains the best reason to watch Images.

Images Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Images is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

Images has been exclusively restored for this release by Arrow FIlms. The film is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with mono sound.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan. Picture grading was performed on a Da Vinci Resolve. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picutre instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques.

There are a couple of instances in which next generation dupe materials were inserted into the cut negative. At these points the quality of the image is reduced and the film grain in elevated to a noticeable level, but we have attempted to make these shots fit in with the surrounding footage as closely as possible.

The original mono soundtrack was restored from the original DME mag reels.

All restoration work was completed at Silver Salt Restoration in London.

All materials for this restoration were made available by HandMade Films via Park Circus Group.

This is quite a winning presentation of some typically lustrous cinematography by the legendary Vilmos Zsigmond. A lot of the film has been intentionally cast in a kind of dewy soft ambience, so that even some close-ups of York (and there are a lot) can be somewhat lacking in fine detail. While some brief problematic moments are probably due to the dupe elements (see screenshot 19 for a likely example), there are actually moments that look like Altman may have had Zsigmond smear Vaseline or something over the lens to increase an almost hallucinatory ambience but which obviously also tends to tamp down at least fine detail levels. The palette is just a trifle on the cool side to my eyes, but looks generally fresh and decently suffused. Aside from the aforementioned occasional spikes in grain, the presentation is commendably organic looking and encounters no undue compression anomalies.

Images Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Images features a clear sounding LPCM Mono track, one that capably supports one of John Williams' more modernist scores (one that is itself interpolated with some really modernist moments from Stomu Yamashta). The score and ambient environmental sound effects really help to develop this film's hallucinatory qualities, and everything sounds fine here, if obviously narrow. Dialogue is also presented cleanly and clearly and there are no issues with damage or dropouts.

Images Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger


• Scene Select Commentary by Robert Altman


• Imagining Images (1080i; 24:31) is an interesting archival piece with on screen Altman interviews.


• Interview with Cathryn Harrison (1080p; 6:04) is a new piece with the actress.


• Appreciation by Stephen Thrower (1080p; 32:26) offers some good insight from the critic and musician.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:13)

As usual Arrow has also supplied a nicely appointed insert booklet.

Images Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Images may not in fact "mean" anything in the final analysis, but it's a riveting viewing experience, perhaps ironically due in part to its very incoherence. York famously won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her work here, and it remains one of her most arresting performances. Technical merits are first rate, and as usual Arrow has assembled a nice package of supplements. Recommended.